{"id":2488,"date":"2025-10-21T17:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T14:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/an.magicworld.com.ua\/?p=2488"},"modified":"2025-10-21T23:42:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:42:06","slug":"love-of-freedom-in-ukrainian-folklore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/an.magicworld.com.ua\/en\/essays-en\/love-of-freedom-in-ukrainian-folklore\/","title":{"rendered":"Love of Freedom in ukrainian folklore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Love of freedom<\/em> lies at the very heart of Ukrainian identity \u2014 a quality shaped through centuries of struggle, oppression, and resistance. For Ukrainians, freedom means more than independence from external control: it is the right to live with dignity, to make one\u2019s own choices, and to belong to a community built on equality and respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since ancient times, travelers across the lands of modern Ukraine have noted the same defining trait: the people\u2019s natural love of liberty. Their way of life, customs, and traditions revealed an unbreakable spirit \u2014 one that could never be bent into servitude. As His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, has said, the foundation of Ukrainian resilience \u2014 from centuries without a state to the current war with Russia \u2014 is the nation\u2019s shared sense of freedom and its will to defend it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This love of freedom, an innate sense of being one\u2019s own master, distinguishes the Ukrainian spirit from that of other Slavic peoples. As historian Mykola Kostomarov observed, it is essential for a Ukrainian \u201cto feel independent, a master of his own life.\u201d To seek freedom does not mean to separate oneself, but to claim the right to live freely \u2014 in one\u2019s family, community, country, and the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In everyday life, this spirit reveals itself through a rejection of coercion, respect for self-reliance, and faith in collective governance. Ukrainian communities historically valued elected leadership and treated every member as an equal. Folk sayings capture this worldview perfectly: \u201cBetter bareback than in bondage,\u201d<\/em> or \u201cBetter poor, but free.\u201d<\/em> For Ukrainians, freedom is not a luxury \u2014 it is the condition for life itself. Yet, as philosopher Volodymyr Yaniv warned, fear of \u201cthe inner tyrant\u201d sometimes led Ukrainians to weaken themselves through internal conflicts, allowing outsiders to take control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In folklore, love of freedom runs through every heroic narrative. It shines most clearly in dumy<\/em> and historical songs, where the image of the free Cossack \u2014 for whom \u201cthe steppe and freedom are a Cossack\u2019s fate\u201d \u2014 embodies both courage and the right to live freely. Folklorist Filaret Kolessa noted that \u201cthe longing for freedom and protest against violence are the central ideas of Ukrainian historical songs from the earliest times to the present.\u201d Ukrainian oral tradition consistently shows a conscious fight for liberty and a desire for a democratic, self-governing society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fairy tales and legends, freedom \u2014 the ability to choose one\u2019s path \u2014 drives the story forward. For heroes like Kotyhoroshko, Ivan Suchenko, or Ivan Holyk, freedom is life itself, more precious than any treasure. The bird-girl, mermaid-bride, or crippled duck from magical tales all prize their independence and, once their freedom is violated, return to nature to reclaim it. In the ballad Bondarivna<\/em>, the heroine would rather die than marry a man she does not love, while Marusia Churai, though condemned, grants freedom to captured Cossacks \u2014 an act of spiritual liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Zaporizhian Sich \u2014 the legendary Cossack fortress \u2014 became a symbol of freedom in dumy<\/em>, songs, and legends. It was portrayed as a refuge for those with honor and dignity, who fought for liberty for themselves and their land. Folk memory preserves the names of these heroes: Baida Vyshnevetskyi, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, Maksym Kryvonis, Danylo Nechai, Ivan Bohun, Ivan Sirko, Morozenko, Maksym Zalizniak, Ustym Karmaliuk, Oleksa Dovbush, and Lukyan Kobylytsia \u2014 fearless leaders of uprisings and defenders of the people\u2019s will. The spirit of Cossack freedom carried into the twentieth century, echoing in the songs of Ukrainian riflemen, insurgents, and freedom fighters. During the current Russian-Ukrainian war, this same spirit has been reborn \u2014 inspiring new songs grounded in folk imagery and reviving the old ones as hymns of resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, love of freedom<\/em> in Ukrainian culture is not just a dream of political independence but a profound moral value, rooted in every form of folklore \u2014 dumy<\/em> and ballads, tales and legends, rituals and songs. It is the longing for a life of dignity without coercion, for truth and self-respect, and for the strength to say \u201cno\u201d to injustice \u2014 in family, in authority, and in the world. Ukrainian folklore has preserved freedom as the highest virtue \u2014 and it remains so today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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