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UkraineThe PeopleDemographics Urban residents comprise about 72 percent (1998 estimate) of the population. Kiev, the capital, is the largest and oldest city. Other major cities include Kharkiv, Odessa, L’viv, and Dnipropetrovs’k. Language Ukrainian is a Slavic language written in the 33-letter Cyrillic alphabet. It is the official and most commonly spoken language. During the Soviet period, Russian was also an official language and was the language of instruction in secondary schools and universities. It remains the primary language of ethnic Russians. Minorities also speak their own languages, including Polish, Hungarian, and Romanian. More than half of the population is bilingual. New language laws guarantee ethnic minorities the right to use their native language for public and judicial business. Religion Christianity is the dominant religion of Ukraine, represented mainly by Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate) churches. Catholicism is found only in the western region. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church plays a major role in society. Under communism, religion was suppressed, but after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced religious freedom in the late 1980s, there was a revival in religious observance. This trend has spread since independence. Ukraine has a small minority of Jews; they comprise a much smaller proportion of the population than before World War II and the Holocaust. CustomsMarriage and Family
The average family has two children. Both parents usually work outside the home. Child care is expensive and in short supply; however, many elderly parents live with their adult children and often assume responsibility for child care during the day. Women do most household chores. It is common for parents to support children until they reach adulthood and even after they are married. In turn, children expect to care for aging parents when it becomes necessary. It is also common for those who have settled in the city to send their children to stay with their grandparents in the country for several weeks during the summer. Most families in urban areas live in small one- or two-bedroom apartments. State-owned apartments are the most affordable; private rented accommodations are expensive. Few people own their apartments. Homes in towns and cities have such utilities as electricity, gas, and water, while houses in rural areas are much simpler. Eating Vegetables, breads, dairy products, and starchy foods are basic staples. The most popular Ukrainian dishes are made of cereal grains and flour pastes. Common grains include buckwheat, oats, and millet. Rice is imported. Popular dishes include varenyky (dumplings), holubtsi (cabbage leaves stuffed with ground meat and rice), and kasha (porridge, prepared in a variety of ways). Kasha is served with either meat or poultry. Pork and beef are the most common meats. Soup is considered an essential part of a meal. The most popular, borsch, varies according to locality and season and typically contains cabbage, beets, potatoes, and carrots; meat may also be added. It can be served hot or cold, often with sour cream. Ukrainians eat fruits such as apples, pears, plums, strawberries, and melons. Fresh produce is expensive and difficult to obtain during the winter, so in summer and autumn people make preserves for the winter months. People eat a light snidanok (breakfast) in the morning before leaving for school or work. Obid is eaten in the mid-afternoon and usually includes soup followed by meat or fish. Working people usually bring food from home or go to canteens (cafes) for obid. The third meal, vechera, is eaten at 6 or 7 PM and is usually the meal that family members eat together. People usually only eat out on special occasions. Socializing When meeting informally, men and women usually wave the hand and give a verbal greeting such as Pryvit (“Hi”) or Dobryj den’ (“Good day”). Dobryj den’ is also appropriate in formal situations, in which case people often shake hands. Men wait for women to extend a hand before offering to shake it. In official situations titles are used, including Pan (“Mr.”), Pani (“Mrs.”), Panna (“Miss”), or Panove (“Sirs” or “Gentlemen”), as well as professional titles. Relatives and close friends often hug and kiss cheeks when greeting. They address each other by first name. A respectful form of address is to use the first name followed by the patronymic, which is the father’s given name, and a gender-specific (for son or daughter) suffix. Because of the Ukrainian tradition of hospitality, visitors, whether expected or not, are nearly always made welcome. Friends, neighbors, and relatives often visit. However, visits arranged in advance are preferred whenever possible. Guests invited for dinner will usually bring a gift of some kind: flowers, a cake, a bottle of liquor, or candy or toys for the children. Guests usually remove footwear when they enter a home, and they do not sit on the floor or put their feet on furniture. Recreation On weekends, many young people like to leave the city. Mountain climbing, hiking, camping, and skiing are popular activities. In the summer, people enjoy swimming, volleyball, soccer, and table tennis. Fishing and soccer are especially popular with men, and most people enjoy watching television and visiting friends. Some people who live in urban areas own dachas, or country cottages, and spend a great deal of time there tending a garden, making preserves, and relaxing. People without dachas often have a small plot of land near the city on which they grow vegetables. In cities people take advantage of the opportunities available for going to the theater or concerts, but in rural areas they are more likely to get together on weekends to play music, sing, and dance. Traditional instruments still played in Ukraine include the sopilka (flute), the volynka (horn pipe), and the national instrument, the bandura (stringed instrument). Holidays and Celebrations Celebrated on 25 December by Catholics and on 7 January by Orthodox Christians, Christmas is the most popular holiday. During the Christmas season, which also includes New Year’s, people decorate fir trees and have parties. Now that religion is no longer suppressed, other religious holidays are regaining prominence. Children enjoy koliadkie, a time when they go door to door and receive candy and cookies in exchange for songs and jokes. National holidays include International Women’s Day (8 March), Solidarity Day (1 May), Victory Day (9 May), and Independence Day (24 August). An old holiday (Soviet Army Day, 23 February) is unofficially celebrated as a sort of Men’s Day. On International Women’s Day, women receive flowers and gifts, household help from husbands, and a day off from work. Special attention is paid to mothers, and girls are congratulated as future women. Victory Day marks the end of World War II and is extremely important for most families. ArtsMusical Traditions
There is an elaborate genre of music (vocal and instrumental) and drama used for folk weddings and other important rituals that reflects family and communal feelings about these events. There are also eloquent historical epics, and lyric songs that are often sung homophonically. These usually contain an independent lead voice combined with two or more other voices in parallel harmony. The lyrics are often shorter than the melodies, so singers add nonsense syllables and repeated text fragments to make up for the difference. A repertoire of epic laments called duma were transmitted well into the 20th century by blind traveling singers, accompanying themselves on the bandura. The bandura is thought to be the only indigenous folk instrument, and as such has become a symbol of national identity. It has an oval body and a neck that is placed off-center, over which are eight bass strings. The remaining 8 to 15 strings are stretched over the rest of the instrument body. It is played both solo and in ensemble. Other instruments with a wider distribution in Slavic regions are the skrypka, a fiddle; the basolya, a small double-bass; a kind of cimbalom (a type of dulcimer); several end-blown flutes; bagpipes; and the baraban, a drum. InfrastructureGovernment
Recent Decades Ukraine became an independent republic upon the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) at the end of 1991. Many of the issues facing Ukraine after independence concerned its relationship with Russia. Political tensions developed over Crimea, which had a majority Russian-speaking population. Shortly after Ukrainian independence, a Russian-led movement to secede from Ukraine was formed in Crimea and succeeded in creating an autonomous republic. The Supreme Soviet of Russia declared the 1954 transfer of Crimea null and void, thereby engaging Russia in the debate. In January 1994 Yuryy Meshkov, a former Soviet border guard and legal prosecutor, was elected president of Crimea on a platform of reunification with Russia. After his inauguration, Meshkov removed local appointees of the Ukrainian government, an action that the Ukrainian government declared illegal. In early 1995 Crimean deputies threatened to hold a referendum on reunification with Russia. The Ukrainian Supreme Council then annulled the Crimean constitution and abolished the presidency, while Crimea called for Russian intervention. The Russian government did not choose to intervene, however. On 31 March 1995 Leonid Kuchma, who had been elected to the Ukrainian presidency in July 1994, assumed direct control of the government of Crimea, which meant that all appointments to Crimean government were subject to his consent, and he was able to dissolve the local parliament. Secessionist efforts were further dampened by Crimean local elections held in June and July, in which pro-Russian groups were largely defeated and Yevgeny Suprunuk, a supporter of continued integration with Ukraine, took over as chairman of the parliament. Following the elections, Meshkov claimed that he remained Crimea's president. In August Kuchma lifted the decree placing Crimea under direct presidential control. Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma won a second five-year term in November 1999, pledging to accelerate economic reforms to revive Ukraine’s depressed economy. Also following independence, Ukraine and Russia both claimed ownership of the Black Sea Fleet, stationed in the Crimean port of Sevastopol’. The two countries reached some agreements on dividing the fleet, but at the end of 1996 the former Soviet fleet was still stationed in Sevastopol’ and no divisions had been made. Economy Ukraine’s economy suffered from policies of central planning and collectivization during the years the country spent as part of the USSR, as well as from a focus on heavy industry that is now questioned. After Russia, Ukraine has the second largest gross domestic product (GDP) of the former Soviet republics and about the fifth highest GDP per person. The country was the Soviet Union’s breadbasket, producing more than one-fourth of the USSR’s food. With reorganization and modernization, agriculture could provide substantial export revenues. Ukraine has large coal and iron deposits, plus manganese and potassium salts, although it has to import oil. It was home to much of the USSR’s defense industry, the skills and technology of which could be used to develop other industries. After independence the country was slow to embark on market reform. National income plunged, inflation soared, the value of the currency crashed, and in 1994 Ukraine found itself lacking the money to pay for its oil imports from Russia; in 1995 Ukraine’s debts to Russia totaled U.S.$5 billion. Privatization and reform efforts began again following the election of Leonid Kuchma to the presidency in July 1994. Kuchma called for the privatization of thousands of state-owned enterprises, agricultural reform, reduction in state subsidies, and tax cuts as part of his economic plan. In addition, the United States as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international organizations provided large grants and loans. After a somewhat slow beginning, economic reform was gaining momentum by mid-1996, with several hundred enterprises being privatized each month. The country’s new monetary unit is the hryvnia, which replaced the karbovanets. Transportation and Communication Public transportation in urban areas is efficient. Streetcars, buses, and trolleys are the main means of transportation, but major cities also have subways. Most families do not own cars. Roads are extensive but often in poor repair. Fuel is expensive, which makes taxis expensive and not always easy to find. Unofficial taxis often pick up people who ask for a ride. People in rural areas get around on bicycles; buses or trains take them to nearby towns. The railroad network is developed, although trains are in need of modernization. Air Ukraine is the domestic airline. As in all former Soviet republics, the telephone network needs to be expanded and modernized. The postal service also needs improvement. The press is free and active, but the government currently owns all radio and television stations. Education Compulsory education begins at age 6 and children must attend school until age 15, when they finish secondary school. After secondary school there are several options: to go to upper secondary school and prepare to enter a university; to work during the day and attend evening school; to train at a school that specializes in a specific career; or to enter a job-training program. Universities are located in major cities. All institutions of higher education require incoming students to take entrance exams. Health and Welfare Medical care is free, but hospitals and other medical centers suffer from shortages of modern equipment and supplies. The full extent of damage the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster caused to both humans and the environment may never be known for certain. Thousands of people died and hundreds of thousands more have suffered ill-health as a result of the accident. Both human and animal genetic mutations have been documented. The government has agreed to close the plant by the year 2000. |
Ukraine
has been continuously inhabited since about 1500 BC, but the Slavic ancestors
of today’s Ukrainians did not begin to settle in the region until the 7th
century AD. Ethnic Ukrainians account for about three-quarters of the population,
while Russians account for just more than one-fifth. In Crimea, Russians make
up two-thirds of the population and have called for closer links with Russia.
Smaller ethnic groups in Ukraine include Belarusians, Tatars, Poles, Germans,
Hungarians, Romanians, and Greeks. Tatars live in Crimea but lack citizenship
rights; they were expelled in 1944 for working with German occupation forces,
but since 1989 some have returned. More than 7 million ethnic Ukrainians live
in western Europe, North America, and other areas.
Young couples usually marry in their early twenties. A marriage is legal only
if performed in a “Wedding Palace,” but most couples today also have
a religious ceremony. Wedding parties in urban areas tend to be elaborate but
do not involve much tradition. On the other hand, weddings in rural areas are
big events that usually last for three days. Most weddings include the traditional
trio music of the violin, tambourine, and dulcimer.
The music of Ukraine, like that of many other European countries, possesses
both art and folk-music traditions. Despite Soviet attempts to destroy Ukrainian
nationalism, the people have preserved their culture through folk songs, legends,
art, and other traditions. During times of increased national sentiment, interest
in folk music led to a sort of national musical style. Ukraine encompasses a
large area, so folk-music styles can vary greatly according to region. Calendrical
ritual songs are important, one of which is the old winter solstice song that
has evolved into a familiar Christmas carol known around the world as “The
Carol of the Bells.” Songs are also associated with work, games, and entertainment.
Ukraine is a parliamentary democracy led by a powerful executive president.
The president is elected by direct, popular vote for a five-year term. Parliament
(Verkhovna Rada) has 450 directly elected members representing a large number
of political parties. The president appoints the prime minister and the cabinet
of ministers with the approval of the parliament. All citizens may vote at age
18.
Знание - сила
