The Hutsuls in South Bukovina: from Rural Tradition to Sustainable Development

Abstract

The Hutsuls, an ethnic group belonging to the Bukovina's agro-forestry and pastoral area, still preserve ancient folk traditions which generate friendly practices and attitudes towards the environment. Globalisation and modernisation have brought about changes in the local rural traditions which, on the one hand, threaten their singularity, and on the other hand, set the stage for a new start. The paper aims to analysethe perception of the Bukovina's communities on the tradition-sustainable development relations considered from a double perspective: the Hutsuls' traditions and the evolution of the group itself under changes in Romania in the last 25 years. Consequently, our approach has sought to make a correlation between the information collected from the scientific literature, the answers given in a field survey and the opinions expressed in the media concerning this subject. The results of the study have shown that both the occupations and the traditions of the Hutsul ethnics, as well as their spiritual and cultural life, are strongly linked to the natural elements of the environment which the Hutsuls consider to be the basic resources for their existence. However, given that nowadays young people migrate abroad, the community's perception is indicative of a particular concern to do with the viability of this ethnic group; that is, the human right to DOI: 10.1515DOI: 10. /eec-2017 23' 2017 * Joins as the first author. ** Corresponding autho: gabrielamanea2002@yahoo.com 120 Despina Saghin, Elena Matei, Ioana Cojocaru, Gabriela Manea, Octavian Cocoş turn to modernisation and the efficiency of multicultural policies application in Romania. The study is hence useful from several points of view: it can disseminate information on a national level concerning this little-known ethnicity; it can promote the role of the ethnic groups in reaching the local objectives of sustainable development; and it can supply the authorities with the necessary information for taking the right decissions, be they political, cultural, economic or demographic.

Dining Tables Divided by a Border: The Effect of Socio-Political Scenarios on Local Ecological Knowledge of Romanians Living in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina

“…A complex history under different governance systems, e.g., the Turkish Empire, Moldavian Kingdom, Austro–Hungarian Empire (1774–1918), Kingdom of Romania (1918–1940), and then division into Southern and Northern Bukovina between Romania and the Soviet Union, respectively, have influenced population structure and distinctive natural resource use [ 18 ]. Therefore, in the study region, the population predominantly consisted of Hutsuls in the mountainous part of Bukovina [ 35 ] as well as Romanians and Ukrainians (the latter inhabiting the lowlands of Northern Bukovina). The multicultural population of Bukovina was formed under the Austro–Hungarian law freeing local inhabitants from taxes for 30 years, which led to the growth of the population, from 80 thousand in 1800 to 850 thousand at the beginning of the 20th century, via migrants from other overpopulated regions of the Austro–Hungarian Empire, such as Ukrainians, Germans, Polish people, Jewish people, Hungarians, Roma people, etc.…”

“…Within this multifaceted and intriguing context, the Ukrainian–Romanian border area of Bukovina has been settled by, among others, Romanians, Ukrainians, and Hutsuls (a Ukrainian ethnic minority living predominantly in Hutsulshyna and mountainous areas of Bukovina [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]), which have shared a complex history and socio-economic scenario, but different governance systems [ 4 ]. A few studies on the influence of the border in Bukovina with regard to the use of wild plants have been published [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 37 ].…”

Knowledge transmission patterns at the border: ethnobotany of Hutsuls living in the Carpathian Mountains of Bukovina (SW Ukraine and NE Romania)

“…Among these minorities are Hutsuls who live in the Carpathian Mountains of the Suceava district of Romania and the Cernivtci, Ivano-Frankivs'k and Zakarpatska provinces of Ukraine. Hutsuls speak a local language which they themselves consider to include elements of Ukrainian, Polish, German and Hungarian [14]. In Romania, children are taught both in Romanian and Ukrainian in school, while at home they mainly speak the Hutsul language.…”

“…Hutsuls are an ethnic group living in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine and to a lesser extent Romania. These communities have been recently studied from an ethnographic perspective [14,15] as well as an ethnobotanical one [6,16].…”

Hutsuls' perceptions of forests and uses of forest resource in Ukrainian and Romanian Bukovina

“…Amato (2021) reported that the term 'Hutsul' has its roots in words meaning 'bandit' and 'thief', also commonly used to refer to other pastoral societies, probably in relation to the practice to graze other's land (Aime et al 2001). However, Hutsuls are better known as the 'wild people of the forest', as they have a long history of dependence on forest resources from both an economic and a cultural perspective (Drăguşanul 2011, Saghin et al 2017, Hutsuls speak an unwritten language. In addition, Hutsuls living in Romania also speak Romanian, and Hutsuls living in Ukraine speak Ukrainian, their respective languages of school instruction.…”