Customs and Everyday Life of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia and Galician Podilia During the «Great War» Through the Eyes of German Soldiers

Abstract

The publication «Memorable Pages» of the 40th Royal Saxon Reserve Infantry Regiment (1929), created by the soldiers of this unit, contains unique testimonies about the daily life and culture of the Ukrainian population in Eastern Galicia and Galician Podilia during 1916–1917. The largest amount of ethnographic material was occasionally collected by German soldiers during positional battles with the Russian army near the Zbruch River by Husiatyn.
The houses of local Ukrainians were single-story, plastered with clay and covered with straw. A typical house had one room with a large stove, wooden benches along the walls, and icons in the corner. Several generations of a family often lived there. In winter, livestock and poultry were frequently kept inside. Ukrainian houses in towns and villages were almost identical.
The road infrastructure consisted mainly of unpaved roads. Good, gravel-covered roads were rare – one such road, for example, led from Terebovlia through Kopychyntsi to Husiatyn.
Agriculture was based on growing cereals, potatoes, corn, beans, and lentils. Land cultivation was carried out with a simple plow and hoe, without fertilizers due to the natural fertility of the soil. Threshing, winnowing grain, and flax scutching were performed using extremely primitive methods. Ukrainian crops sent to Germany helped soldiers’ families survive hunger.
Traditional Ukrainian clothing included: for men – a shirt, linen trousers, belt, and for holidays – woolen trousers, vest, jacket, boots; for women – colorful skirts, headscarves, embroidered shirts, corsets, laced shoes or boots. On weekdays, people mostly walked barefoot, often even in winter.
Christmas traditions included Christmas Eve supper with kutia, cabbage rolls, varenyky, beans, and cabbage. The table was decorated with straw, with bread and a lit candle stuck in it placed in the center. At Christmas, straw crosses were burned in front of gates for protection against evil forces, and the few fruit trees were wrapped with straw ropes.
The wedding ceremony in Molodynche in the Lviv region included a maiden party with the bride dancing in a paper crown with bridesmaids, a church ceremony under a veil, the traditional cutting of the bride’s braid by the groom and its burial in the forest. Musical accompaniment was provided by a violinist and a drummer.
Gender relations were characterized by early marriage and uneven distribution of labor, where women performed most of the heavy work.
Sanitary and hygienic conditions were unsatisfactory. The population suffered from pediculosis, which required regular anti-epidemic measures from the German sanitary service.
The publication’s materials significantly complement existing ethnographic research and historiography of Ukrainian daily life at the beginning of the 20th century.