Boykos

The Boykos or Boikos are a distinctive group of Ukrainian Carpathian montagnards of the Carpathian highlands. The Boykos inhabited the central and the western half of the Carpathians in Ukraine, including the Dolynskyi and a part of the Rozhniativskyi Raions (districts) in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province), the Skolivskyi, Turkivskyi, and parts of the Drohobytskyi, Sambirskyi and Starosambirskyi Raions in the Lviv Oblast, and parts of the Mizhhirskyi Raion in the Zakarpattia Oblast), as well as the adjacent areas of southeast Poland and northeast Slovakia.

In recent times some scholars have claimed that the Boykos are a part of the Rusyns ethnic group. However, the Boykos call themselves Ukrainians. Indeed, in the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th century Boykos, as well as most of the population of the present day's Western Ukraine called themselves Ruthenians ( _uk. Русини, Rusyny). Then the term "Ukrainian", that replaced the term "Ruthenians" in Eastern Ukraine a century earlier, became more common among Western Ruthenians/Ukrainians, including Boykos, as well. According to the recent [http://www.ukrcensus.gov.ua census] practically all Boykos in Ukraine declared their ethnicity as Ukrainian.

The name, "Boyko" is thought by some to originate in their patterns of speech, specifically the use of the expression, "bah!".Fact|date=June 2008

Most Boykos belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, with a minority belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The distinctive wooden church architecture of the Boyko region is a three-domed church, with the domes arranged in one line, and the middle dome slightly larger than the others.

Boyko is also a common surname among people with origins in Western Ukraine, including in Canada and the United States.

ee also

*Hutsuls
*Lemko
*Ukrainians
*Rusyns
*Ruthenians
*Ukrainian dance

References

*Anatoliy Ponomariov. "Ethnic groups of Ukrainians" (in Ukrainian). Available [http://www.interklasa.pl/portal/dokumenty/r_mowa/strony_ukr02/rozne/etnografia.htm online] .
*"How Rusyns became Ukrainians", Zerkalo Nedeli ("the Mirror Weekly"), July, 2005. Available online [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/ie/show/555/50610/ in Russian] and [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/555/50610/ in Ukrainian] .