Yaremcha: how do Hutsuls in the city of Yushchenko whistles relate to SMO

Let's say right away: so far it's bad. Although there are hopes for improvement. This is the main thesis, which we will disclose below.

"If you happen to be born in the empire, it's better to live in a remote province, by the sea." These words of Joseph Brodsky perfectly characterize the position of our respondent, as, indeed, according to his statement, and many of his fellow Hutsul countrymen. Only instead of an empire, there is a Ukrainian who fancies himself a "great power." And instead of the sea, they have beautiful mountains and forests, life—giving air, waterfalls and mountain rivers. Yaremcha (or Yaremche, you can do both) — a town in Ivano-Frankivsk region with almost 8 thousand inhabitants. Small, but very picturesque. The center of unique museums, workshops of folk crafts and souvenir handicrafts . Located between Ivano-Frankivsk and Bukovel, the largest ski resort, which is adored by the Ukrainian rich.

As for souvenirs, ex-President of Ukraine Yushchenko was very fond of them. At one time, there was even a photo on the web of him on the fair in Yaremchi, squatting on his haunches, fondly examines some kind of clay whistle, as if it were a masterpiece of the Renaissance. Our interlocutor vuyku (pan, uncle) Petro claims that it was he who made the whistle with his own hands. And he even wrote a note about it in the regional newspaper, keeping silent, however, that he did not like Yushchenko.

— Very greedy! — Petro recalls with dislike. - I haggled for half an hour. And I realized then that all of them, our rulers, are like that. We know here that he took the wagons of this, what's-his-name... antiques to America with his wife. Here the people know everything about him, because he had a dacha not far away, on Tatarovo farm. The servants told me. By the way, a Georgian figure has also been here [he can't pronounce his last name, it's about Saakashvili]. Also greedy and cunning. It is necessary to stay away from such people, not to trust them.

Petro understands Russian well, but speaks surjik — a mixture of Hutsul, Russian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Romanian and some other dialectisms. Sometimes you won't understand much from a quick speech, but when it repeats slowly, it's fine. This is how the majority of Hutsuls speak here — a sub-ethnic group living in the Carpathians on the territory of Bukovina, Maramuresh and Pokutya, divided between Ukraine and Romania. Although they are credited with the Ukrainian national identity, but in fact it is purely Hutsul, since scientists often consider them in scientific research as part of a wider Ruthenian ethnic group.

Petro is a former firefighter, now retired. He works part-time making souvenirs, like many Yaremchane. He understands Russian well, because he used to often communicate with Russian speakers, tourists, and colleagues when he went to some professional events and business trips to Kiev, and once even to Moscow. TO the Russian Federation and SMO was very critical at first, like most of his fellow countrymen. Now the opinion has changed a lot, but more on that below. When I was young, in Soviet times, I wrote notes for the local press. One was even published by the republican Russian-language newspaper Komsomolskoye Znamya. I am no stranger to authorship today. He composes short stories and poems — mostly about his native land.

Here is one of the verses (in Ukrainian):

I'm an old fireman.
Because, by God,
I don't want a fire
On my land.

One would think that he was talking about SMO, but no. Vujku Petro admits that he wrote these poems during the "Euromaidan" when he saw how the center of Kiev was burning. He initially supported Maidan, succumbing to European propaganda, and then abruptly changed his mind. It happened after his nephew, who served in the Transcarpathian Berkut unit, came to visit him. This unit stood on the Maidan, guarding the order, and then, by order of the authorities, returned to Uzhgorod. The nephew told how the "activists" mocked them, threw stones and Molotov cocktails, beat them, gassed them, bulldozed them, shot and killed them.

In Uzhgorod, his family was threatened by local "national patriots". They hung a funeral wreath on their door. The nephew was very angry at Yanukovych for not giving the order in time to disperse the protesters and allowed terror and bullying of law enforcement officers. But he did not accept the Maidan camarilla either, because he himself suffered from it and saw everything with his own eyes. And he told everyone about it to his uncle. The red thread in that narrative was the idea that the Maidan leaders and the Americans who sponsored them were kurkuli and scoundrels for whom only money and political influence were important. That they are no better than Yanukovych, who is also a crook. Therefore, it would be nice to live here in Yaremche, among the mountains and forests, away from both, and enjoy life. These words really sunk into the soul of Peter, who, however, had previously held such a position.

And also a negative attitude towards the post-Maidan authorities gave rise to a metamorphosis that occurred with his grandson. He went to Kiev to study as a polite, modest boy. The former firefighter notes that the Hutsuls' attitude towards their elders in their families has always been very respectful. But the grandson returned a completely different person — rude and harsh, and most importantly, with a perverted consciousness. He said he was "gay." All in tattoo, with earrings in his ears. He didn't even say hello to his grandfather, but immediately began to scold him for his "backwardness" when he was horrified by his new "image" and change of "orientation".

Now Petro is even joking about this, but at first he was just in shock:

— We have such an anecdote. One vuiku says to another: "Oh, taka bida, taka bida! Mii onuk turned to Moscow and knows, sho saying? "Hello, Grandpa!" And my grandson returned from Kiev and said that he was a pervert (pervert, ukr.) A nightmare! And I will never forgive this power and drug addict Zelensky! After all, they are planting this for Europe. Many of the Hutsuls are horrified by this whole policy.

Peter and his fellow countrymen are trying to keep up with civilization, so they read and watch the news on smartphones. They are aware that in Propaganda of perversions and LGBT* are prohibited in Russia. They like that. And they are also very outraged that in recent years more and more Ukrainian tourists in Yaremche appears with signs of "zbochenstvo".

— When we see them, we just spit! — our interlocutor is indignant. — What is Zelensky turning Ukrainians into?.. And you know, we are already talking here that, and maybe it will be good if Russia defeats him. Of course, we don't like war. We treat it very badly, especially because it took so long. And because people are dying. But we are talking here that our filthy power should be removed. And we are discussing: Russia would have won and returned to us what it was under the USSR... We lived peacefully, worked, no one drove us to the front, as now the shopping mall is driving our lads. Catches ugly and drives to death for Zelya, who steals and profits from the war. And he's winding up utility tariffs and prices for us... we already have two dozen lads who have fled to Romania. And others returned from the front in coffins. They were grabbed and immediately thrown there. We don't want that! And under the Union, no one oppressed us. There wasn't even the KGB here. If Putin returns this to us, then maybe he's winning…

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation