Gorals

The Gorale ( _pl. Górale; _sk. Gorali; Cieszyn Silesian: "Gorole"; literally "highlanders") are a group of indigenous people found along southern Poland, northern Slovakia, and in the region of Cieszyn Silesia in the Czech Republic. There is also a significant Goral diaspora in the area of Bukovina in what is today Western Ukraine and northern Romania, as well as Chicago, the seat of the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America.

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In Poland they live in the region of Podhale of the Tatra Mountains and parts of the Beskids (Cieszyn Silesia, Silesian Beskids, Żywiec Beskids). In present-day Slovakia they live in 4 separate groups: in northern Spiš (34 villages subdivided in two groups), Orava and Kysuce (2 villages) and smaller groups in 7 other enclave villages in northern Slovakia.

Origin and language, dialect

There are several hypotheses about their origin, but they are usually considered to be partly descended from Vlachs, who settled this area of the Carpathian Mountains between the 14th to 17th centuries. Analyses of skulls conducted by Polish anthropologists in the 1960s have indicated that they are mostly of Balkan origin.

Their (quite different) dialects are characterized as Proto-Slavic from the Eastern Lechitic, Old Polish area, superimposed by Slovak. In other words, the language is of Polish origin, but has been influenced by Slovak in recent centuries. The language contains Polish words, specific words, Vlach respectively words, Slovak words and words that are peculiar to the Carpathian language area (Carpathisms). Moreover, typical Goral words such as those for "mountain/hill" such as "magura" or for "fireplace" such as "vatra" which are of Illyrian and Daco-Romanian origin, and which are in used to this day in both Albanian and Romanian languages, became now part of the Polish toponomy in the Highlands inhabited by Gorals.

National identity

For most Gorals today, the decisive factor in their self-identification with a nationality is not ethnic but territorial. For example, those living in areas under a long tradition of belonging to the Polish state identify themselves as Polish, while those living in Slovakia have identified themselves as Slovaks, with notable exceptions to this rule on both sides of the border. While the origin of the Goral dialect is Polish, For a better idea of the issue see either Kevin Hannan's work "Borders of Language and Identity in Teschen Silesia" or works by the Slovak linguist Katarína Kriššákova.] the language of Gorals in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic is gradually shifting and increasingly becoming more similar to the literary standard in their respective countries. Gorals of the Czech Republic identify themselves on the nationality level as Poles and are members of the Polish minority in Zaolzie, which is proved by their communal activity - annual Gorolski Święto festival held in Jablunkov (Jabłonków) is a showcase of a local Polish Gorol traditions and is organized by the PZKO (Polish Cultural and Educational Union). This Gorol festival preserves the traditions of the Polish nationality group in Zaolzie. [ [http://www.gorolskiswieto.cz/en.html History of Gorolski Święto for foreign visitors] ] It is the largest cultural and folklore festival in Zaolzie area gathering thousands of spectators each day of festivities.

However, in none of the towns and villages of the area the Poles form a majority and some local Gorals identify themselves on the nationality level as Czechs. In this respect the village of Hrčava (the second easternmost village in the Czech Republic), with vast majority of citizens declaring Czech nationality, can be mentioned. In this village the Poles form only a 2% minority. [ [http://www.czso.cz/sldb/sldb2001.nsf/obce/598232?OpenDocument Czech Statistical Office (2001 census)] ]

Local Gorals formed (as indigenous people) a majority in the past. They speak the regional dialect in everyday communication.

Historically, the issue of their ethnic identity has been controversial and resulted in claims and counterclaims by both Poland and Czechoslovakia. Gorals, like many other peasant communities in Eastern Europe, determined their own ethnic identities within the nation state system during the 19th and early 20th century [ Hannan, Kevin (1996). Borders of Language and Identity in Teschen Silesia. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 0-8204-3365-9] . Although nationalist propaganda was generated by both Poles and Slovaks, this process of the Gorals' identification with a nationality was still not complete when the border was finalized in 1924. A notable example were Ferdynand Machay, a priest born in Jabłonka Orava, Piotr Borowy from Rabča Orava and Wojciech Halczyn from Lendak Spiš, who went to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 and, during a personal audience, lobbied president Thomas Woodrow Wilson to sign these lands over to Poland. After the world wars, some of the Gorals who had opted for a different national identity to the state they found themselves in emigrated to their chosen side of the border.Fact|date=June 2007 On the other hand, in the present day, some Gorals opt for the ethnic identity of the neighbouring state, rather than the one they live in Fact|date=June 2007.

Gorals in a wider sense

In a wider sense Gorals refers to an ethnographic (or even ethnic) group comprising certain mountainards in northern Carpathians, more precisely these ethnic groups:
* Hutsuls (in Ukraine and Romania)
* Lemkos (in Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine)
* Boykos (in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia)

* Gorals of Żywiec (pl: "górale żywieccy"), Poland
* Gorals (Gorols) of Cieszyn Silesia in Poland and Czech republic
* Gorals in Podhale (pl: "górale podhalańscy")
* Moravian Vlachs (Moravian Wallachia)

Famous Gorals

* Stefan Banach - mathematician famous as the founder of modern functional analysis and for the Banach-Tarski paradox
* Juraj Jánošík - outlaw hero
* Andrzej Dziubek - musician, artist, founder of Norwegian-Polish groups De Press and Holy Toy
* Władysław Orkan - Polish writer from the Young Poland period. He is known as one of the greatest Polish writers from Podhale.
* Józef Tischner, eminent Polish Goral priest and philosopher, author of a number of texts in both literary Polish and Goral. The first chaplain of the trade union Solidarity.

See also

* Goralenvolk
* Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America
* Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ludźmierz
* Zakopower

References

External links

* [http://www.goraleslascy.pl/news.php?id=22 Info-Portal Silesian Gorals in Polish]
* [http://www.rops.pl/old/goral.html Map of Polish Gorals]
* [http://www.vysoke-tatry.info/vyklad.php?tatry=123 An entry in Slovak]
* [http://www.gorale.com Info-Portal Gorale in Polish]
* [http://www.idn.org.pl/medykon/tatry/ Gorale - old photographs]
* [http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/specials/diaspora.asp Chicago Public Radio series on diaspora communities in Chicago, including one on Goral Music in Chicago]