I travelled in that general area a few years ago, when I visited Romania. I spent a week or so in Sighetu Marmatiei, in Maramures County, and from there went walking in the hills around the border with the Ukraine. The people in the valleys and hills were wonderfully friendly - I posted a photo essay from there some years ago, this was shortly after Valentin Donisa of fond memory had taken me on a tour of the Moldovensc and Suceava region - and welcoming.
They spoke Ukrainian, I think. In any case, my hopeless attempts to speak Russian were not welcomed, and they did not appear to speak Romanian or Hungarian, as far as I could tell. I would love to spend more time in that region. B > -----Original Message----- > From: pdml-boun...@pdml.net [mailto:pdml-boun...@pdml.net] On Behalf Of > Igor Roshchin > Sent: 02 August 2012 17:17 > To: PDML@pdml.net > Subject: Re: OT Rusyn/Lemk ancestry > > > Some 20 years ago, I visited the area of where Rusyns (Carpatho-Rusyns, > Ruthenes) live near Uzhgorod (Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine), - in > one of the valleys away from big cities. > > They were affected by many major European wars (that territory was > changing hands many times and _practically_ never had its own > statehood), but, surprisingly, not wiped away. > I think absence of natural resources and being somewhat hidden away > from the major army routes helped their survival and the survival of > their ethnical characteristics, including their language. (At least in > the part I visited) Their language consists of a wild mixuter of > Ukrainian (~50%), Hungarian, Chech or/and Slovakian, Polish and > Russian. > > A lot of questions related to the ethnicity of Rusyns is highly > political (even with some separatists movement(s)), and thus, - some > are contraversial. > E.g. Rusyn language (or dialect) was formally recognized only in 1990s. > The same happened with the formal recognition of the ethnicity in > different European countries that have Rusyns. > I suspect that some might even about some details of the short > description I wrote here. > > > Igor > > > > > Thu Aug 2 05:35:30 EDT 2012 > mike wilson wrote: > > > I know a few folks here are of this background. A friend of mine > > (excellent English, dry sense of humour) in Central Europe is > thinking > > of starting a company to help people research and provide guidance to > > visit ancestral homes. > > > > If anyone would be interested in such a service, please contact me > > offlist. You can also pass my email address to other interested > parties. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
