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The Hutsuls (Rusyn language/; ; ) are an East Slavs ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș).
In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administratively designated a subgroup of Ukrainians, and, among Ukrainian scholars, are largely regarded as constituting a broader Ukrainian ethnic group. (1992). 9780801841880 ISBN 9780801841880 However, in the eyes of some scholars and of some Hutsuls, they are either their own nation, or a part of the Rusyns nation, alongside the closely related ethnic groups of Boykos and Lemkos.„Czy w XX w. w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej powstają nowe narody?”. J. Lewandowski, w: Wokół antropologii kulturowej, pod red. M. Haponiuka i M. Rajewskiego, Lublin 1999, s. 42–43.
Ukrainian Hutsul culture bears a resemblance to neighboring cultures of western and southwestern Ukraine, particularly Lemkos and Boykos. These groups also share similarities with other Slavic highlander peoples, such as the Gorals in Poland and Slovakia. Similarities have also been noted with some Vlach cultures such as the Moravian Wallachians in the Czech Republic, as well as some cultures in Romania. Most Hutsuls belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Hutsul society was traditionally based on forestry and logging, as well as cattle and sheep breeding; the Hutsuls are credited with having created the breed of horse known as the Hucul pony. One of the main attributes of Hutsuls' is their Shepherd's axe (bartka), a small axe with a long handle that is still used to this day for chopping wood, as a cane, for fighting and traditional ceremonies. They would often be intricately decorated with traditional wood carving designs and passed on from generation to generation especially upon marriage. They use unique musical instruments, including the "trembita" (trâmbiţa), a type of alpenhorn, as well multiple varieties of the fife, or sopilka, that are used to create unique folk melodies and rhythms. Also frequently used are the duda (bagpipe), the drymba (Jew's harp), and the tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer).
The Hutsuls served as an inspiration for many artists, such as writers Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Vasyl Stefanyk, Marko Cheremshyna, Mihail Sadoveanu and Stanisław Vincenz, and painters such as Kazimierz Sichulski and Teodor Axentowicz—noted for his portraits and subtle scenes of Hutsul life—and Halyna Zubchenko. Sergei Parajanov's 1965 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors ( Тіні забутих предків), which is based on the book by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, portrays scenes of traditional Hutsul life. Composer Ludmila Anatolievna Yaroshevskaya composed a work for piano based on Hutsul folk music ( Fantasy on Hutsul Themes).
Every summer, the village of Sheshory in Ukraine hosts a three-day international festival of folk music and art. Two Hutsul-related museums are located in Kolomyia, Ukraine: the Pysanka Museum and the Museum of Hutsul and Pokuttia Folk Art. Traditional Hutsul sounds and moves were used by the Ukrainian winner of the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, Ruslana Lyzhychko.
The Romanian Hutsuls have a Festival of Hutsuls at the Moldova-Sulița village in Suceava county. In the 1996 elections to the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, the General Union of the Associations of the Hutsul Ethnicity (Uniunea Generala a Asociatiilor Etniei Hutule) obtained 646 votes (0.01% of the total). Archived copy In the 2000 elections to the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, the General Union of the Associations of the Hutsul Ethnicity (Uniunea Generala a Asociatiilor Etniei Hutule) obtained 1225 votes out of 10,839,424 votes (0.01% of the total). Archived copy According to the representatives of the Hutsuls, in the 2002 census, they "preferred to declare themselves Romanians in order not to be included in the category of Ukrainians". Gheorghe Flutur imputernicit de hutuli sa le reprezinte interesele in Parlament News Bucovina, 8 November 2004
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