Culture

The “Culture” section on our website is represented by the following subsections: material culture (specifically, traditional material culture, as well as economy and entrepreneurship) and spiritual culture (which includes spiritual culture with subsections concerning the organization of public life, family life, celebrations, religious life and traditions, musical culture, and various forms of art). The concluding sections are dedicated to museums and the protection and preservation of cultural heritage, which has suffered significant losses during Soviet times and as a result of the Russian armed aggression in 2014 and 2022. Currently, not all of the mentioned sections and subsections contain sufficient information, but we hope for the active involvement of specialists in filling our website and are open to cooperation.

The task of the “Culture” section is to present the characteristics of both ancient folk and modern culture of the Mariupol Greeks, highlighting its originality and uniqueness. It aims to showcase its transformation and cultural influences, to document the extent to which certain elements of the culture have been studied, and to identify specific problematic areas and “gaps” that still require the attention of researchers.

According to some researchers, many of the cultural traits of this community can be traced back to Crimea. They also note a significant Eastern influence on the culture of the Mariupol Greeks, which was shaped by the political dominance and cultural influence of the Ottomans and Crimean Tatars during the time of the Crimean Khanate. This led to the spread of Turkic terminology in the names of various cultural elements, not only among Turkophone Greeks but also among Hellenophone Greeks, resulting in great variability. During the Azov Sea period in the community’s history, Ukrainians and Russians had a significant impact on their cultural features.

The rapid industrial development and urbanization of the Donetsk region at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, followed by events of the Civil War, the destruction of Greek spiritual centers, and Stalinist repressions of the 1930s, resulted in the loss and forgetting of certain cultural elements, as well as significant linguistic assimilation.

Overall, we can state that among the material culture objects of the Mariupol Greeks, housing has been studied by researchers most thoroughly, with a somewhat less focus on household life and traditional clothing. The characteristics of the traditional food system remain insufficiently researched. Certain traditional primary and auxiliary occupations of the Mariupol Greeks, the spread and specialization of crafts, and the guild organization system remain unclear. Traditional carpet weaving, embroidery, and other crafts, once common among the Greeks, have not been studied.

There is a considerable historiography on the Greek temple festival Panayir. Also, some wedding cycle rituals and customs have been researched. Spring calendar festivals and family life have been described and preliminarily analyzed. Special attention needs to be paid to the study of traditional elements of public life, the modern transformations of family and calendar cycle rituals, religious beliefs, mentality, and the process of identity formation among the Greeks. The research of these issues will allow a comprehensive examination of the mechanisms behind the formation of their cultural heritage, spiritual values, and ways to improve interethnic relations today.

Given the significant loss of the Mariupol Greeks’ cultural artifacts during the Russian bombings of several state and folk museums in Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the theft and illegal export of exhibits to the Russian Federation or Russian-controlled occupied territories, the issue of creating a list of lost and existing museum collections and descriptions of individual exhibits becomes urgent. The assistance of researchers who have worked with these collections and are familiar with them is invaluable. The process of returning museum collections and restoring lost exhibits and museum complexes will require a significant effort and time.