What connects Carpatho-Rusyns to the Carpathian Mountains?
John Fauth
Published: July 12, 2024
One of the joys of Carpatho-Rusyn ancestry is trying to understand the bewildering names, religious affiliations, and descriptions of our people. For instance, initially I was baffled by the description of Rusyns as autochthonous to the Carpathian Mountains.
Now, autochthonous is a tongue twister but thankfully it’s pronounced roughly the same as it’s spelled: au·taak·thuh·nuhs. As a biology professor, I knew it referred to an ecosystem supported by energy produced from within, like the green plants growing in a marsh. Ecologists contrast this with allochthonous ecosystems, which are supported by external energy sources. Streams are a common example of an allochthonous ecosystem because fallen leaves (rather than green plants) are the base of their food chain. So, why are Rusyns considered autochthonous to the Carpathian Mountains?.
A quick search revealed that autochthonous comes from the Greek auto-, meaning “self,” and chthōn, meaning “earth” or “soil.” Therefore, autochthonous means “native to the soil” or, in contemporary terms, indigenous. Carpatho-Rusyn authors ranging from Dr. Simeon Pyzh (A Short History of Carpathian Rus’, 1938) to Dr. Paul Robert Mogocsi (Carpathia Rus’: A Historical Atlas, 2017) identify Rusyns as the descendants of a Slavic tribe—often called the White Croats —who settled the Carpathian Mountains in the early Middle Ages and have remained there for some 1,500 years. Historically speaking, “native to the soil” is an appropriate description because Rusyns were subsistence farmers, sheep and goat herders, and tree cutters. We had deep and enduring connections to the land. The first stanza of the Lemko anthem “Гори наши Карпати” offers a heartful embrace of our highland home:
Our mountains, our mountains,
Our Carpathian Mountains.
Nobody has knowledge,
what that means for us.
The ecologist’s definition of autochthonous also fits Rusyns well. The energy for the small mountain villages that anchored our ecosystem came from within the Carpathian Mountains rather than being imported from outside. Food came from small family gardens and livestock fed on pasture grasses and hand-cut hay. Sheep and goats herded to summer alpine pastures provided cheese, plus wool for homespun clothes and blankets. Flax provided linen for summer clothing. Wood cut from mountain forests provided firewood for cooking and heating, as well as building materials for homes and churches. Forests and meadows provided mushrooms, berries, and other edibles. Villages were self-sufficient and, except for having insufficient farmland to support growing families, were sustainable.
Much of what we celebrate as Rusyn culture—the food, the traditional clothing, and the folk music—derives from this history of self-sufficiency and of being autochthonous to a very special place: the Carpathian Mountains.
Next time: Between the 48th and 50th parallels
John Fauth is a member of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society, and a third-generation Lemko-American.
