CULTURE
Ukrainians
take pride in their cultural tradition, which is part of a broader
Slavic culture but retains a distinctive national flavour. In
the countryside, outdoor festivals feature brightly coloured folk
costumes, dance, and traditional music. Urban life is enriched
by a large number of performing arts facilities and other cultural
institutions created during the Soviet era.
Ukraine’s
geographical location between Europe and Asia meant that much
of its early culture was a synthesis of Eastern and Western influences.
When a developed culture emerged in the medieval, or Kievan, period,
the influence of the Byzantine Empire was paramount. In early
modern times, major European currents such as the Renaissance
reached Ukraine via Poland. A cultural dichotomy today exists
within Ukraine, with western regions reflecting European, especially
Polish, influence, while in the eastern regions the impact of
Russian culture is evident.
After
the Mongol destruction of Kievan Rus in the 13th century, literary
activity in Ukraine declined. A revival began in the late 16th
century with the introduction of printing, the Reformation ferment,
and the advance of the Counter-Reformation into Polish-dominated
Ukrainian lands. The Union of Brest-Litovsk (1596), which united
several million Ukrainian and Belarusian Orthodox believers with
Rome, stimulated an exceedingly rich polemical literature, with
the Apocrisis of the pseudonymous Khrystofor Filalet and the anonymous
Perestoroha on the Orthodox side and the Antirizis of Ipaty Poty
in the Uniat camp. The most distinguished and prolific polemicist
was the Orthodox Ivan Vyshensky, whose ornate style combines Church
Slavonic with vernacular elements.
