Summary:
The 4th annual festival “Dzvony Lemkivshchyny” [The Bells of the Lemko Region] has taken place in Monastyrs’ka, in the Ternopil’ region of Ukraine. The first two festivals were held in the village of Hutys’ko, in the Berezhany region, but since there are more Lemkos in Monastyrs’ka, and the landscape is more like the one in the Lemko Region it was moved here. The entertainment was provided by ensembles from across western Ukraine and Kyiv, but meeting old friends and neighbors might have been the most important reason to come for many visitors. The rainy weather scared away some potential guests, and although many additional spectators arrived on the second day when the weather improved, the attendance did not surpass the record 5,000 people that came last year.

Ukrainian Lemkos expressed their desire to have the Lemko Region recreated in its original ethnic structure. There were also many voices in favor of the creation of an all-Ukrainian center of Lemko culture in Monastyrs’ka. Just like Lemkos in every other place that they live, Ukrainian Lemkos once again raised the issue of the condemnation of Operation “Vistula.”

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