You have probably already heard this phrase somewhere before: “All of us Slavs are pretty much the same”. It is one of many equally poor attempts to devalue centuries of culture exclusive to the Rusyn people. The origin of these are from several contemporary forces — all of which have led to wide-spread myths concerning the genetics and ancestry of Rusyns.
We, the Rusyns, are East Slavs. This is the case both genetically as well as linguistically. I have heard many insist that, “The only difference between East and West Slavs is language”. This statement undoubtedly gains traction and is a cheap means of gaining “credibility”, in restating what another has (incorrectly) said elsewhere. Yet given such logic, why would one still argue that Rusyns are a separate ethnic group at all, if we are supposedly no different from other Slavs, on even a broader regional level? This would be the same as claiming the only difference between North and South Italians is language, which for anyone with a basic knowledge of DNA knows is untrue! But this statement and those like it have led to a number of alarming attempts to westernize the origins of our people to the extent that we have become nearly unrecognizable in the face of other Slavs.
Where, for instance, did the myth of Germanic DNA in Rusyns originate? I would argue that this myth is rooted in the uncertainty of Rusyn ethnographers and their desire to formulate “some” sort of theory relating to our origins, without regard for real factual claim. Take for example, Paul Magocsi, the author of With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus’ and Carpatho-Rusyns. In one section of this book, he questions the validity of modern theories concerning Rusyn genetic admixture. Nonetheless, he proceeds to give an example of one such theory, which I am certain misled some readers. In this excerpt, he repeats a theory in which present-day Rusyns are “37% Slavic, 25% Celtic-Romance-Germanic, 9% Adriatic Balkan, and 8% Scandinavian” (Magocsi, 26). While it was likely not his intention to present this theory as an indisputable fact, there are numerous people who believe it to be true and will cite such theories time and again.
DNA testing of “fully Rusyn” individuals (those whose four grandparents were all Rusyn) will say otherwise. Not only that but historical migrations as well. We are already aware that Rusyns are descended from the East Slavs and Vlachs (from the area of present-day Macedonia and Albania). Therefore, it should not be a shock to anyone when a person of majority Rusyn ancestry receives a high Balkan component on a DNA test, sometimes as much as half. Any percentages following after tend to be much smaller, “trace” amounts of other regions outside Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
Many have claimed that because the Northeastern Carpathian region is “very ethnically diverse”, there surely must be frequent intermixing of populations, some going as far to claim that Swabians and Rusyns have intermarried in recent centuries and must somehow account for a large percentage of modern Rusyn DNA. However, during my time in the DNA community, I have yet to encounter a fully Rusyn person who has more than a 5% Germanic ancestry on any mainstream test, let alone Western European at all. It is, therefore, difficult to argue that we have mixed significantly in the past few centuries. Historically, most Rusyns lived their entire lives within the same village, and migration elsewhere was often limited only to harvest season. Not only this, but Rusyns have historically married within their own religion, whether it be Byzantine Catholicism, or Orthodoxy, almost exclusively. Most Rusyn marriages before the mid-20th century were ones of convenience. An excerpt from the Carpatho-Rusyn American (VIII) discusses how marriages were generally arranged by the groom’s parents, and based on factors such as “economic status, morality, character, and health”. Marriages were often an opportunity for labor exchange between Rusyn families and required approval from both sides of the family. Therefore, the couples themselves played a much more passive role in the engagement process. In addition, only the church could legally register marriages, meaning both the prospective husband and wife were required to belong to the same religion and have basic knowledge of it. What then, would have been the appeal of a Swabian-Rusyn marriage, namely on such as large scale as some claim?
Because there are very few deemed “Rusyn samples” available in population databases, it should also be no surprise that we tend to match closely with other East Slavic populations such as Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians (as opposed to Czechs, Slovaks, Sorbs, and other West Slavic groups). It is also not uncommon for Rusyns to share a close genetic distance with modern Croatians and Moldovans. We should not assume, however, that the Balkan portion of our DNA is “modern”. While it remains a significant part of us, it opens the doors for frequent misunderstanding. Our Balkan DNA is not an 18th century romance between a Rusyn woman and an ethnic Croatian man who ventured to the Carpathians by chance. It is rather a result of Vlach migrations, beginning in the 13th century.
The idea of “everyone intermixing with everyone”, assumes a late 20th or modern 21st century context, i.e., a time in which people can travel easily and quickly. Not to mention, many such ideas come from North Americans, generations removed from their ancestors, living in a place where it is the norm to belong to several different backgrounds simultaneously. It is oftentimes difficult or even impossible, for people to visualize the geographic isolation of a village in 19th century Carpathian Rus’. For those who are genealogists, why do you suppose so many Rusyn families remained within the same village church records for centuries? Throughout the world, mountains have acted as genetic barriers for many ethnic groups. In addition, centuries before widespread globalization, there were also linguistic, religious, and class-based barriers, leaving Rusyns to marry within their own communities on a larger scale.
An even larger-scale geopolitical issues lies in the manner by which white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) Americans express their identity, and how it has projected onto other ethnic and religious groups, especially those of European origin. It is 1) the idea that having little to no Western European ancestry is “unheard of” for many WASPs, and 2) if they have already assimilated, then others must too. It is also the assumption that if those of colonial American descent have a large Germanic, Celtic, or Anglo background, why can’t Slavs, Mediterranean’s, and other Europeans? After all, we are all from the same continent, no? You can laugh at such a thought, but this is a hill many are willing to die on. Often times these claims are never intended to be actual arguments, but projections of one’s own lack of identity and bitterness towards those who have maintained the culture and traditions of their ancestors. This can often be seen among WASPs who downplay the physical, cultural, religious, and philosophical characteristics unique to Eastern and Southern Europeans. While this ideology has been centered within North America, it is also being perpetuated more globally, via social media.
To be Rusyn is a journey in itself. It is a path often strewn by misconceptions, echo chambers, and the oversimplification of cultural identity. Though we have been, and will continue to be Rusyn, it is of the utmost importance that we disallow the influence of the modern America-centric concept of identity. One might ask, does this issue then effect the Rusyn community in Eastern Europe? Absolutely. After all, a large percentage of Rusyn forums on social media are led by Americans of Rusyn origin, and the cultural centers to which they belong. It is no doubt that the worldview of these individuals will thereby, on some subconscious level, impact the manner in which Rusyns abroad perceive their identity too. It is not to say that American Rusyns intend to project an American-centric mindset in their work, but rather it is the fact that they cannot “adapt” to the worldview of a location they were not raised in nor spent significant time in. They will have always been exposed to American media first and foremost, and the socio-political ideologies therein. This brings us back to the mainstream, WASP-esque view of identity that is being perpetuated in American society as a whole, regardless of a person’s ethnic background. With the rise of social media, ideologies are no longer confined within geographic borders. There is a shrewd nature to these worldviews, serving their theories in gradual dosages until the victim – the Rusyn people – are fully incapacitated.