DWELLING AS THE LIFE BASIS OF UKRAINIANS

GERASKO M.A.

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Article deals with the interior of dwellings in Chernihiv-Siverskyi region (in the 2nd half
of the ХVІІІ – 1st half of the ХІХ cent.). On the example of towns Baturyn, Glukhiv, Borzna and
Krolevets the article deals with the house interiors of the population of Chernihovo-Sivershchyna
(the second half of the XVIII – mid. XIX cent.). The analysis is based on considerable descriptive
material concerning Ukrainian customs and way of life that has accumulated in the middle and
especially in the second half of the XIX cent. and led to scientific adjusted conclusion about the
comparative characteristics of Ukrainians and Russians. This topic was researched by M.
Markevych, I. Sreznevskyi, P. Kulish and others. A significant contribution to the study of this
subject belongs to historian M. Kostomarov, who singled Ukrainian cultural and traditional
existential complex out of all-Russian complex, that was considered unified for more than three
centuries of coexistence within a single empire. Also, this article characterizes the division of
the house on special parts and identifies the main sacred centres of the house. The attention is
given to the fact that the Ukrainian housing is associated with many beliefs and rituals. It
indicates that the dwelling-house reflects not only people’s ideological and artistic heritage,
but also a pragmatic idea. After all, the house seemed a model of nature and the universe,
which protected both physically and spiritually. We know that house was not only a place where
the family spent most of its life, but it was the family hearth around which ancient and beautiful
traditions were preserved.
The author emphasizes the deep symbolic ritual value that Ukrainians gave to all subjects
of domestic interior and the lyrical attachment to their place of residence. After all, the house
had a kind of sacred meaning for its tenants, that is why, to the house and all domestic things
people gave some philosophical content. Complexity of representations of the world for humans
began from the dwelling and was a dominant through all life. It is revealed that a Ukrainian
house with its aesthetic appearance and its interior in particular, is an important factor in
the understanding of the Ukrainian people and makes the character unique, and one that
is very different from the characteristics of other nations. The author concluded that this
topic needs a further study.[/restab]

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GERASKO M.A. – National Historical and Cultural Reserve “Hetman’s Capital”, PhD (History) (Ukraine).[/restab]

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