Bohdan Khmelnitsky.

Bohdan Khmelnitsky occupies a special place in Ukraine's history. He had been at the land of Cossaks in the struggle for freedom. It was under his leadership that Ukraine was freed from Polish and Lythuanian invasions which had lasted for many years.

The name of Bohdan Khmelnitsky is associated with the Cherkasy region.He was born in Subotiv, 14 km from Chygyrin. Bohdan studied in Kyiv, Yaroslav, Lviv. At a young age he joined theCossacks. He was a dearing cossack and showed the talent of a leader. He took part in many battles with the Turks. In 1620 his father was killed in the battle near Isetsovka and Bohdan was imprisoned. He spend 2 years in the captivity where he learned the language of the Turks, their customs and traditions.When he was freed he come to Chygyrin. In 1648 he leadered antipolish struggle. Gided by the Crimean Tatars the cossacks fought the Poles and got independence. The most important battle, took place near the town of Korsun.

The treaty about Ukraine's freedom was signed near Zboriv. Bohdan Khmelnitsky returned to Chygyrin. But Poland began preparing a new compaign. Khmelnitsky was forced to sign a new treaty in the town of Bila Tserkva.

In 1654 he signed the treaty about the Union with Moscow. But Russian Tsar betrayed him. Khmelnitsky sent his envoye to Sweden, Moldova, Romania.Sweden promised to help in the war against Poland, but Khmelnitsky fell ill and died in August 6, 1657. He was burried in the church in Subotiv. Hetman Khmelnitsky has a great glory in the history of Ukraine because he was the first to lead the cossacks into the struggle for freedom of people.

invasions - вторгнення

to be imprisoned - бути посадженим у тюрму

сaptivity - полон

independence - незалежність

treaty - договір

Questions:

1) What is the place of B. Khmelnitsky in Ukraine’s history?

2) Whom Ukraine was freed from?

3) Where did Bogdan studied?

4) Where did he learn the language of the Turks?

5) What treaty was signed near Zboriv?

15. Ukrainian diaspora.

Many Ukrainians live abroad, mainly in Canada, Australia, Germany, the USA, Argentina. They are called Ukrainian diaspora. In previous years before Ukraine independence, they had no ties with their mother land - Ukraine and Ukrainians living in other countries. These people are mainly former residents of our Western regions or people who found themselves abroad during the second World War.

Most of them observe Ukrainian customs and traditions and worship Ukrainian orthodox religion. They know their mother tongue well, in fact they make the point of speaking Ukrainian. Their children are tought Ukrainian. They know and learn our art and music, our poets and writers. Some of them come to our country very often. They help our students to learn English abroad. They are proud that they are Ukrainians.

independence - незалежність

ties - зв’язки

former - бувші

observe Ukrainian customs - додержуватися

українських звичаїв

worship - сповідають

Questions:

1) What countries do the Ukrainians live in?

2) How are they called?

3) What ties do they have with their Motherland?

4) What religion do they worship?

5) What is their attitude to our customs and traditions?

16.Ukrainian Community Abroad.

More then 3 mln. Ukrainians live now abroad. They can be devided into 3 groups. The largest of them is the group of Ukrainians whose the 4-th or even the fifth generation of ancestors live abroad.They assimilated to the foreign culture and traditions more than the other 2 groups of the Ukrainian emigrants.

The representatives of the 2-nd group those who left their fatherland one or two generation ago- know and honour Ukrainian culture and traditions.

The third group is not very large,but-they are the most active in a way. This group consists mostly of the Ukrainians emigrated at the end of WW II. This group also includes children of the third wave of emigration and others. This group is the close of the Ukrainian communities in the west. The most numerous, organized and active are the communities of Ukr's concentrated in the USA and Canada. The first newcomers created the backbone of the Ukrainian Community: churches, fraternities which greatly inrceased in number in the course of the second wave of the emigration.

But nevertheless it was rather difficult to preserve national traditions, culture, customs, image. In most cases emigrants settled in towns and cities, satisfiing their economic demands. So this made it difficult to follow their native Ukrainian traditions and mode of life, which were mainly rural. The system of education up to now-a-days was directed on to the assimilation of the foreigners. The Ukrainians are the most numerous in the middle-atlantic states in comparison with the other states in the west. But even there they occupy the 21-st place in quantity in the USA and the 9-th in the middle athlantic states, the centre of Ukrainian emigrants.

The Ukrainian national association published "Svoboda",the most popular Ukr. paper in the west and informative weekly in English "Ukrainsky Tyzhnevik".

Among the public organizations there are the Ukrainian national women leag, scout organization "Plast", union of Ukrainian Youth. There are dance and choir groups in the communities especially for youth.

Among the most prominent scientific istablishment we should meet upon the scientific community, named after Shevchenko and the Ukrainian art and science Academy. As for the saving of the cultural heritage, the most important contribution was collecting of money for establishing and opening the three choirs in Horvard University in 1970. In 1964 the monument in honour of T.Shevchenko was opened in Washington. The Ukrainian Communities abroad exist more then 100 years.

In Canada the Ukrainians occupy the 5-th place in their number comprizing 3% of the general quantity of the inhabitants.

There are a lot of professional and business clubs of Ukrainians. These clubs embrace rather large number of active skilled young Ukrainians. In contrast to the Ukrainians in the USA, Canadian Ukrainians created their own cultural traditions. But nevertherless the Ukrainians in Canada are used to the patriarchal approach to the Ukrainian culture.

Besides north America the Ukrainian communities exist in Germany, Great Britain, Australia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland.

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