Ukrainian folklore

[1] Folklore has been an important tool in defining and retaining a cultural distinctiveness in Ukraine in the face of strong assimilatory pressures from neighboring lands.

[2] Ukrainian folk customs have numerous layers defined by the period in which that aspect developed and the area in which it was exploited.

The lowest and oldest level is the pan-Slavic layer of folk culture which has many elements that are common to the Slavic people in general.

The layer above this contains cultural and folkloric elements that define the various micro-groups of the Ukrainian ethos such as the Boykos, Cossacks, Hutsuls, Lemkos, Lyshaks, Podolians and Rusyns.

Ukrainian folk customs and rites were rituals connected with the calendar and with the course of human life.

They can be divided into three categories:[5] Folk customs have undergone many changes in Ukraine as modern culture was introduced.

The famous Russian composers Peter Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Serge Rachmaninoff also collected and used Ukrainian folk melodies in their works.

[10][11][12][13] Many Ukrainian fairy tales developed during a time when people were farmers and hunters, with children growing up around "fierce animals roaming the forests" that could be dangerous.

[14] Additionally, children had to learn early the importance of caring for animals and crops because failure meant going hungry until the next year.

Children's author Jan Brett's English language retelling of the Ukrainian fairy tale, "The Mitten", has become a bestselling classic.