A break of tradition: the case of deported ukrainians from Western Boykivshchyna in 1947

Abstract

In this article, based on the materials of the author’s search ethnographic expeditions аnd published works, by the example of ritual culture the result of breaking tradition of Ukrainians from Western Boykivshchyna, who were displaced within the framework of ’Operation Vistula’ have been analysed. It was the forced resettlement of approximately 150,000 Ukrainians and mixed Polish-Ukrainian families from the territory of Rzeszów, Lublin and Krakow provinces (Voivodeships) to the western and northern territories of Poland (1947–1950). After the deportation of the Ukrainians, the processes of accelerated breaking of both their the way of life and the unique world of traditional culture with its archaic customs and rites have begun. This was actively facilitated by local government policies aimed at inciting inter-ethnic tensions, creating difficult relations with representatives of various regional groups of the Polish ethnic community, as well as censure and ridicule of the traditional elements of the folk culture of re-settlers by their neighbors. Nevertheless, with the help of tradition (in ritual form or in form of their memories), re-settlers from Western Boykivshchyna continue to keep memory of their own (non) traumatic past, and, based on it, construct their own identity in the perspective of modernity.