Lemkos

[Michele A. Berdy]

Gee, am I the only Lemko on this list? Well, I'm half Lemko and half Ukrainian. In our family, Lemkos were always and only Lemkos, although we were sometimes Galacians when describing the territory we came from (not ethnicity). We were not Rusyns or Ukrainians. In fact, them's fightin' words for us Lemkos. 

Years ago I rented part of a dacha in Peredelkino, and it turned out that my dacha neighbor was half Lemko and half Boyko (the occassion of discovering two Lemkos under one roof led to the just about the worst three-day drunk I can remember...). Over the years Sasha, who grew up in a small town in Transcarpathia, has tried to enlighten me on the Lemkos and Transcarpathian politics and history, but after the third hour my eyes glaze over. I haven't managed to sort it all out (I recall Sasha trying to impress on me that Rusyns were a political concept, not an ethnic one). The confusion is that over the centuries all these folks have described themselves variously, and Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and others have described us variously, and politics and religion got thrown in, and ethnic self-identification got thrown in. BTW, not long ago a Muscovite with the unusual name of Berdy wrote me via The Moscow Times, wondering if we were relatives. I told him we were Lemkos; he insisted he was Ukrainian. Then he called his great aunt in Kyiv, who confirmed that the Berdys were Lemkos. 

So I think that Mr. Boitchenko is not quite right. Maybe one of these days Sasha will take me to my historical homeland and I'll figure it out. But in the meantime, please don't call me a Rusyn. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------