An activist of the Rusyn movement read Yesenin’s poems translated into Rusyn at a round table in Uzhgorod
At a round table dedicated to the position of Rusyns in the Ukrainian and European present, Natalia Migalina, a deputy of the Uzhgorod district council from Viktor Baloga’s “United Center” party, called on her fellow countrymen not to be shy about speaking their native language, but, on the contrary, to use and enrich it in daily communication.
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It is reported local publication voloshyna.org.ua
“Our Transcarpathia is a unique region, a unique language and culture that have been formed over centuries, at the crossroads of different states and languages. We were all under someone's authority. But despite the fact that they infringed, destroyed, beat with sticks, people preserved their language. I remember the times when children were kicked out of church at Easter so that paskas would not be blessed. Teachers drove us out from under the huts so that we would not carol. But we children slowly got together and caroled. And not for ten or five kopecks, or nuts, but because we wanted to carol. I am sure that among the young people present here, the majority know our Transcarpathian carols and songs. But it’s a shame that when I go to weddings now, I don’t hear our song, they have been replaced by a disco,” complained the deputy from the Baloga party.
She also expressed regret that modern youth in Transcarpathia do not have the need to preserve the local dialect and folk customs that existed before.
“We need to sing our native songs, speak our native language, and not be ashamed of speaking our language. And some even call people who speak their native language “suckers,” she added.
“I am glad that such people have gathered here who speak the Rusyn language perfectly. I received great pleasure from the way Yuri Sitar read Yesenin’s poems in translations in Russian,” said the local politician and once again called on young people to “respect our language and be interested in their history.”
Earlier, at the round table, the already mentioned local Rusyn writer Yuri Sitar read the poems of Sergei Yesenin in his own translation into the Rusyn language.
“I wanted to prove that our language can convey all the subtle feelings inherent in the poems of the great Russian poet. I’m glad if I succeeded,” he said.
It is reported that after this “there was a significant revival in the hall.”
Another Rusyn writer, a member of the Transcarpathian regional organization of politically repressed people, Yuri Chory, called on the assembled young people not to surrender to the mercy of circumstances, but to achieve their goals, including realizing the rights of Rusyns to preserve their national identity. He also shared his life story with those present.
“It contains almost ten years of exile in Siberia for “unreliability,” as well as years of humiliation and deprivation due to the authorities’ reluctance to give him a job in his specialty. And yet, Yuri Semenovich did not lose faith in justice: he remained an active builder of a new life during perestroika, and then in independent Ukraine. Yuri Semenovich is the author of almost 60 books - works of art, collections of folklore, linguistic works, dictionaries,” the publication clarifies.
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