My grandmother, Hanna Bukovska, maiden surname Haieva, was born in the suburbs of the small city of Uhniv (Zastaviie) in Lviv region, and all 46 years of her life, until the eviction in 1946, were connected with this city, its original local culture.
For their education and ability to dress well, Uhniv women were always considered special women. They had a local feature to wore Uhniv Shawl tied into a Fancy Knot on their heads – huge shawls (2x2 meters big), which they wore in a special way"over their forehead" the two long ends of which fell on the shoulders touching the shoulder blades. Such a shawl protected even in the severest frost. Such a shawl was also called "Turkish", probably because of the pattern on it. For each holiday, women wore shawls of the appropriate colour.
So my grandmother Hanna used to walk along the streets of Uhniv in such an outfit, with a "fancy knot" on her head. The shawl has four ends: joy and happiness, grief and tears. Grandmother's family also did not escape grief. In March 1946, she, her elderly mother and two daughters (one of them is my mother), her husband was no longer alive, were evicted by the "Soviets" from the family nest and moved to Pidhaitsi (Ternopil region). Life was hard, there were more important things to think about than "fancy knots".
I remember my grandmother's shawls, I even wore some of them in my school years, but I probably won't be able to tie such a "fancy knot". I also wore my grandmother's necklaces when I was performing on stage, although they are no longer full set.
Unfortunately, not a single photo of the grandmother wearing Uhniv Shawl tied into a Fancy Knot has been preserved because many things did not survive the move, and some had to be destroyed to avoid further deportation to Siberia for adherence to tradition, but there is a photo of grandmother Hanna, a true Ukrainian, very hardworking, a zealous, wise, educated Christian woman, with a book in her hand, and her stories, among which is this one about the beautiful Uhniv "fancy knots".
Myroslava BOGUTSKA (Pidgayetsk district, Ternopil region).
text "Voice from over the Bug" March 16, 2020
