Culture and Identity
More to explore from the fascinating country in Eastern Europe!
Collective identity
Considering the turbulent history of the Ukraine, describing a collective identity is hard, even though the Euromaidan and the subsequent Russian aggression against Ukraine brought the people of Ukraine closer together to form kind of a collective identity. After these major events one could encounter assertions of individuals’ increased self-identification as Ukrainian, greater pride in being a part of the Ukrainian state, higher solidarity against compatriots, a willingness to fight and work for Ukraine as well as a bigger confidence in each persons’ power to change the country for the better. The biggest change maybe occurred regarding the attitude towards Russia, which turned drastically negative since the Maidan. However, Ukrainians negative attitude against Russia adresses the state and does not extend to the Russian people.
Relationship East-West
Ukraine is divided into two different cultures. On one side there is the Orthodox, Russian-speaking East and South, and on the other side the more catholic, Ukrainian-speaking West. Repeated changes of boundary and forms of government, followed by different wars and migrations between Russia, Poland and Lithuania led to this religious and linguistic diversity within the country. Furthermore, regarding the question about native language, the country was almost equally divided, with 50 per cent mentioning Ukrainian as their language and 47 per cent speaking Russian.
Language
Ukrainian is the official language in Ukraine and it is the native language of 32 million people, while it is spoken by around 45 million people. The Ukraine language is a Slavic language and written in Cyrillic alphabet. Russian is spoken by 40% of Ukraine people. Particularly, in the East Russian dominates whereas Ukrainian is the main language in the West. In late 18th century, the written Ukrainian language was developed followed by the literary language some decades later.
During the time from 1876 to 1906, Ukrainian language was prohibited and finally became the state language in 1918, when Ukrainian People’s Republic was founded. However, Russian language kept dominating. In 1991 with the independence of Ukraine, Ukrainian became the sole official language and later in 2012, the Russian language was granted official status in 13 out of 27 regions of the country, Odessa included.
In Odessa, 65% of the inhabitants have the mother tongue Russian and around 95% (!) of the people are speaking Russian. Odessian Russian plays an important role in the identity of the city. The Russian spoken in Odessa is characterized by some specific features, which is a mix of Ukrainian and Jewish.
Religion and Communism
The three biggest religions in Ukraine are Ukrainian-Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate) with 45.7%, Ukrainian-Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) with 13,3% and Greek-Catholic Church with 5.9%. Another religion is the Islam with 4%, which is represented in the south of the country in the Crimean Peninsula. In Odessa are 58.6% Ukrainian-Orthodox Church (of which 45.2% Moscow Patriarch, 9.6% Kiev Patriarch and 0.6% other), 3.1% Catholic and 26.0% Protestant or Evangelical.
Communism collapsed in Ukraine 28 years ago and nowadays, communist symbols are omnipresent all over Ukraine. An example is Kiev, where one can still find the five-pointed star which is the symbol of communism, even though the law, enacted in April 2015, says: “Condemnation of the Communist and National Socialist totalitarian regime in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols”.
Health
The health system in Ukraine is in deep crisis. A reason for that is that organisation and infrastructure was largely adobted from the Soviet Union. Furthermore, around 80% of the health costs have to beared by each individual. The most hospitals are not privatized, systems of health insurance do not exist and there is a lack of modern technical equipment and special medicines. Ukraine has the highest HIV infection rate among all European countries.
Theatre and Opera
First theatrical acts have already been traced in the 11th century and were played on the road. The first stationary theatre was built in Lemberg in 1795. More theatres have been built in the early 19th century, whereas the theatre in Odessa was built in 1809. The theatre is characterized mostly by burlesque and an expressiveness paired with charm and humour.
The diverse music of Ukraine is influenced by the East and West. It is basically a mix between exotic and melismatic singing and chords, which mostly do not fit the rules of West European harmony. One traditional instrument is the Bandura, which is like a guitar and can have up to 65 strings. The national opera is in Kiev and is called National Opera of Ukraine. In Odessa, the oldest and probably most famous building, is the Odessa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet which was built in 1810. In the year 1873 the building was destroyed by fire. Later, it was rebuilt in a neo-baroque style and reopened in 1887. The unique design of the hall in the opera allows performers on the stage to transfer a whisper-low tone to the audience at any part of the hall.
Literary Development
The Ukrainian literature is diverse and peculiar and is considered to be a treasure of Ukraine. An important symbol of Ukrainians literature is Taras Shevchenko. He is a poet, writer, philosopher and also an activist. Ukrainian people call him the spiritual father of the nation. Considering that his poem ‘Kobzar’ and others served as powerful catalysts to national self-consciousness, this is not suprising.
Food
Local foods, such as potatoes, meat, fruits, berries and herbs are used for traditional dishes in Ukraine. Spices like mustard and horseradish are very popular for cooking. Traditional dishes in Ukraine are Borschtsch, Warenyky and honey cake. Normal beverages are tea, coffee, mineral water, fruit juices and kefir which is a viscous sour milk product and the traditional alcohol drinks are Horilka and Samogon which are sorts of vodka.
One more week and we finally step on the ground of Ukraine ourselves! Join us here on our journey with daily blog updates.
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Kevin S.
Studyweek Odessa — A project from nine students of HTW Chur
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