Romanians (samanata-remini – is a national minority living in Transcarpathia in the river valleys Yew tree and Apsha, in the villages of Belaya Tserkva, Medium Water, Water-Ples, Lower Apsha, Deep Stream, and in Topchyno village Solotvino. These are descendants of Wallachian shepherds who came to the Eastern Carpathians from the Balkans in the XIV century. Most of them eventually assimilated with the Ruthenian population, some of them settled in the Tisza valley as free settlers and started farming following the example of local residents. In the XIV-XVI centuries, the Romanians of the Tisza valley, as Orthodox, were a kind of intermediary in the cultural contacts of the Rusyns of the region with the Balkan Orthodoxy, which is documented both by Transcarpathian literary monuments of that time, and wall paintings of wooden churches Maramoroskyi. Orthodoxy it held its position in villages with a Romanian population until the middle of the XVIII century.
The Patriarchy of the Romanian villages was eliminated only by Soviet collectivization, which simultaneously reduced employment in agriculture and freed up most of the labor force – mainly the young and middle generation, which forced them to migrate in search of work across the expanses of the entire USSR. The discipline and skill of Transcarpathian Romanians were highly valued and well paid as rafters of the forest at rivers RussianOf the North and Siberia.
If the Kiev oligarchs think that they live in palaces, then you can safely disappoint them – Transcarpathian Romanians live in palaces. Already in the late 80’s-early 90’s of the last century, Romanian villages were striking with their two – story manors, and today they are building entire castles with turrets, amazingly complex roofs, a large number of arches and Windows. The courtyards around the villas are tiled and fenced with expensive wrought-iron fences, and the gates are protected by sculpted lions and griffins. Plots for construction in Romanian villages are more expensive than in the regional center.
All this is possible thanks to the hard work and enterprise of the Romanians-apshans – residents of the Apsha river valley. But it is also interesting that in Soviet times the government turned a blind eye to small speculations of Transcarpathian Romanians. Perhaps they wanted to provide them with a better standard of living than their neighbors and relatives in Romania, and thus show how well their brothers were doing in the Soviet Country.
And now in independent Ukraine Transcarpathian Romanians live much better than their relatives in Romania.
Photos of Transcarpathian Romanians