Dukach is a signet that symbolizes Ukrainian heritage

Traditional Ukrainian national adornments are a priceless source of historical studies of the Ukrainian people. The history of Ukraine and its people had been continuously destroyed, rewritten, forbidden, concealed or simply stolen because other neighbouring countries had been forcing us to lose our national identity. The memory of our nation was erased by means of destroying our language, religion, education, public activity and other spheres of life. The farther from Kyiv, and eventually from any rural area, the people lived, the more they emerged with other culture, enriched it and forgot where they came from. In the situation that was happening at that time, Ukrainian national traditional adornments were a great and a more objective source of studying history, culture and the way of life of our ancestors than written sources. They confirm the Ukrainian origin of numerous historical processes and cultural assets as well as depict the history of separate territories more deeply. They are the real examples of the uniqueness of the Ukrainian nation and their outlook.

A coral necklace is the icon of the Ukrainian culture whereas dukach symbolizes the Ukrainian heritage.

In the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century the following types of the traditional adornments were the most honoured and respectable among Ukrainian women: a coral necklace, dukach, gerdana, zgarda, salba and earrings. Every region had its unique and peculiar set of adornments which was supplemented with the local elements. The main adornment in the set was a coral necklace, despite the territory or the local peculiarities of the way of life. A coral necklace (“korali”, “a good necklace”) is a unique and original representation of the traditional Ukrainian folk clothing and you couldn’t imagine any Ukrainian woman not wearing it.

The next adornment which was very significant for the Ukrainian women was dukach, which was also called lychman. Such names as yahnus and panahiiky were also used. Yahnus was not a widely spread name which was mostly used on the territory of the Western Ukraine. Panahiiky was a widely spread name for dukach on the territory Voronezh, Russian Federation. This is a unique adornment which is an original signet that symbolizes Ukrainian heritage. Coins, being a part of pectorals, are quite common for lots of different cultures. But the coin made in the form of a so-called dukach is a peculiar feature of the Ukrainian culture. Ukrainian women from different regions of the country had been wearing dukach adornments. The territories ranged from Peremyshyl and Kholmshchyna in the west to Kursk region and Voronezh region in the east, from forests of Beresteishchyna, Polissya in the north to the steppes of Odesa and Kherson regions in the south. Every region had its own dukach with its own stylistic peculiarity. But at the same time alongside with corals they were the unexceptional characteristic feature of the traditional Ukrainian adornments for women.

Dukach - Eastern Slobozhanshchyna

Dukach - Western Ukraine

Dukach is a metal pectoral for women that was worn on the ribbon or on the necklace thread. According to the written sources, dukach was made both out of silver and gold or it could simply be aureate. In his work, which was called “Workshops on the Ukrainian Ethnology and Anthropology”, the outstanding Ukrainian ethnologist and anthropologist Vovk F. mentions that the wives of colonels often wore pearl necklaces with ducats and sometimes with golden ten-ruble coins. The main element of dukach is a medallion that was supplemented by the additional jewellery elements such as bows, mounting and the like. The medallion was of a round shape with an image on it. The exceptions were unique and original dukach adornments worn on the territories of Slobozhanshchyna (the present-day territories of the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Kursk and Voronezh regions, Russian Federation). Such kinds of medallions were attached to the bows and could be made in the shape of a heart without any image on it. Coins, religious and even award medals were used as medallions. Such an element as a bow also played a very significant role. It was actually a brooch with a medallion attached to it. Ethnographers assume that the tradition to decorate dukach adornments with a bow appeared much more later and sometimes it was the most beautiful element in the adornment. A bow was decorated with precious stones, glass and beads. Pompous, more massive and bright bows were spread on the territories of eastern and left-bank Ukraine. The bows were more humble or hadn’t even been worn at all in the north and in the west of Ukraine.

Ethnologists who worked at the end of 19th and at the beginning oа the 20th centuries (Vovk F., Sumtsov M.) stated that goldsmiths used traditional ancient forms and images in their products and they did it with extreme constancy even in cases where they could be influenced from the outside. Vovk F. assumes that dukach is an echo of the Byzantine blue elvan which was characteristic for the times of the Ancient Rus. In other words, being influenced by the local traditions, cultural preferences and peculiarities of the peoples’ outlook, blue elvans had turned into dukach adornments and become one of the main adornments for the whole Ukrainian womanhood.

Dukach - Chernihiv region

Dukach - Cherkasy region

At the very beginning dukach wasn’t an adornment that was worn only by the people who lived in the rural areas. It had been worn by the Ukrainian women of all population strata despite their religious affiliation (i.e. Christian) and social status. Dukach adornments were considered to be fashionable and were in trend until the second half of the 17th century.

People gradually stopped wearing dukach adornments. First it was the nobles who stopped wearing them. The reason for this was that during the reign of Petro I the fact that Muscovy started to retaliate Cossack leaders after what happened to Mazepa. Nowadays there are quite a few of inventory documents of the seized property of Cossack leaders whose reliability the Tsar had doubts about. Political prisoners’ property, things that were made of expensive materials such as jewellery, tableware and the like had been confiscated and melted into coins. The nobles who hadn’t been retaliated were trying to culturally get close to the Tsar’s enclosing. That is why the women of Cossack leaders started to follow the fashion that was popular in Petersburg and melt “unfashionable” and “ideologically dangerous” adornments into the new ones. The situation was approximately the same on the Ukrainian territories that had become parts of other countries. After the loss of the national identity the government intentionally inhabited big borderline towns with other nations. Education and other spheres of social life were de-Ukrainianized (Polonization, Russification, Romanization and Magurzation took place in the west). In order to achieve success and fulfill the potential at the civil service, in the religious or public activity, the Ukrainians gradually started to get rid of everything that showed their national identity. Thus they emerged with other cultures and identified themselves accordingly. Nowadays such kinds of processes are an integral part of the hybrid war. For example, Zagorskyi, in his work called “Topographic description of Kharkiv vicegerency” in 1788 wrote that the people in Kharkiv, a part from a few merchants, considered themselves to be Ukrainians. By 1890 very few people wore dukach adornments in Kharkiv, according to the words of Sumtsov M. At the same time Vovk F. mentions that at the beginning of the 20th century dukach adornments were often worn in Halychyna and were widely spread on the territory of the Great Ukraine. On the territory of Central Ukraine they were sometimes worn even during the times of the Soviet rule, when religious medals or imperial coins had been replaced by the Soviet coin. Nowadays, there is an original of such a Lublenskii dukach in one of the private collections. Very few dukach adornments can be found nowadays. It happens so because during World War II and the Holodomor, being a very precious kind of metal, dukach adornments were melted, given or exchanged for food. According to the memories of Olena Vasylivna Shchepak, who was born in 1917 and is a native of Krutky village of Chornobaiiv region, that is located in Cherkasy oblast, these adornments gave her a chance to live through hunger and war. Thus, during 1960’s the youth forgot about these adornments and they stopped being a part of traditional Ukrainian folk costumes.

Nowadays, dukach adornment has come to life again as a historical source. Thanks to the efforts of researchers from Cherkasy, Ukraine is proud again to have an additional visual element that helps to oppose the challenges of the present-day hybrid war. If a coral necklace is characterized as an icon of traditional Ukrainian culture, dukach adornment is a signet that symbolizes Ukrainian heritage.

The fact that wearing dukach adornments has become fashionable again proves the unique character of the Ukrainian culture and legacy of aesthetic preferences. Dukach is a unique visual symbol of the unity of the Ukrainian nation.

Yaroslava Kovalenko

PhD in History

Other publications:

• Award Medals in Dukach Adornments
• biblical plots in dukache
• The medallions among dukaches: the mental and the earthy
• Yahnusok - dukach with "a heart"
• Volyn Dukaches
• Earrings – Ukrainian folk adornments the second half of XIX-early XX century
• Dukaches of South-Eastern Slobozhanshchina: Dnipropetrovsk Region