The church of the famous Ukrainian Cossack hetman, or military leader, Bohdan Khmel'nyts'kyi located in the village of Subotiv, Chyhyryns'kyi region. The church was built so that it could double as a fortress. The walls are several feet thick and there are underground passageways to permit escape.
The village of Moshny, Cherkasy region, August 19, 1998. Moshny is a larger village and was once the regional center. A noble family lived in Moshny, supported a huge cathedral which is now being revived, and ran various enterprises, such as cloth and embroidery production and pottery manufacture, in addition to farming. During the Soviet period, religious practice was banned and the cathedral fell into disrepair. Any sort of religious activity was conducted in private, usually by women. These women, like the ones in this picture, have been at the forefront of the current religious revival and have formed the core of current church choirs.
The village of Subotiv, Chyhyryn region, August 20, 1998. A typical peasant house. This one is owned by Agafiia Iumenivna Kucher, who told the author a great deal about wedding, funeral and birth customs. While Ms. Kucher was an orphan and is a villager of modest means, she was able to educate her daughter, who now works in Kyiv. Please note the racks for drying pots in this picture.
Moshny, Cherkasy region, August 19, 1998. This is the same group as above. These women have made a conscious effort to preserve traditions. They all have traditional costumes which they put on for occasions such as hosting the author. They get together to sing and they performed a full version of a local wedding for the author, complete with the many and varied songs that are sung over the course of the several-day wedding ceremony. Please note that they are passing on both costumes and the tradition of singing to their children.
The village of Velyka Iablunivka, Smilains'kyi region, August 22, 1998. The village version of a playpen. Children a highly valued and are the "one privileged class" in Ukrainian society. They tend to be taken everywhere that the parents or grandparents go. Here the adults were sorting potatoes in the yard after harvest and the baby was outside with them.
The village of Mliiiv, Horodyshchens'kyi region, August 23, 1998. The little girl in the picture is four years old. Please note the combination of hat and bare feet. As elsewhere, the author was collecting information about wedding and other customs from the adults. The children were present, listening to stories about customs and how these should be properly performed.
The village of Velyka Iablunivka, Smilains'kyi region, August 22, 1998. The same yard as the one with the child in a playpen. In the background is a storage building. There is room for the storage of corn, cabbage, and the like on top. There is also a set of steps leading down into a cellar. This is used for longer-period storage. Potatoes, root crops, such as carrots and beets, are usually stored in the cellar.
The village of Topyl'na, Shpolians'kyi region, August 21, 1998. Another typical village house. Please note the decoration around the windows. All openings, such as doors and windows, are protected with decoration, be it painting or ritual cloths. Please also note the stoop around the house. It supports the walls and is also used as a bench in good weather.
Varvara Petrivna Kryts'ka, 86 years old, village of Topyl'na, Shpolians'kyi region. Varvara Petrivna still harvests her own potatoes by going out in the field and digging them up herself, though neighbors help more and more. Varvara Petrivna had children, but they all died young. Thus, she has no family to care for her and is dependent on the support of her neighbors.
The village of Tubil'tsy, Cherkasy region, August 19, 1998. The sisters Hanna Prokopivna Cheberiak and Mariia Prokopivna Dubyna, along with their neighbor, are greeting the author with bread and salt, fruit, and wine. It is traditional to offer all guests food. This is not just a gesture of hospitality, but a means of protection. A guest who does not accept human food may not be quite human. Fear of evil spirits is no longer widespread, but the custom of offering food to all guests remains.
The village of Velyka Iablunivka, Smilians'kyi region, August 22, 1998. Halyna Korienko, a folklorist from the regional museum in the city of Cherkasy is standing at a well with our host. None of the villages which I visited had any plumbing. All water is drawn from a well, the one in this picture being one of the nicest and most elaborately constructed.
The village of Subotiv, Chyhyryn region, August 20, 1998. The man without a shirt, crouching in the middle of the photo is Viktor Ivanovych Huhlia. The woman standing next to him is his wife and the girl in pink is his daughter. They are building their own house in this village. Huhlia is both a villager and an ethnographer. His speciality is local pottery, some of this dates back to the Trypillian period, or 3500-5000 BC. Huhlia is showing some of the pieces he has found to Halyna Kornienko.