At the request of one of my respected LiveJournal friends, I will write about how, in my opinion, Russians differ from Ukrainians. I will immediately stop all accusations of Nazism and say that there are also a lot of Ukrainians among worthy people, and I do not consider them second-class people in any way. Ukrainians are just a little different. Now I will list the main differences from the Russians (everything is purely IMHO):
1. Ukrainians, when they come to Crimea, go to cafe-restaurants a little, and cook their own food mostly. They choose economy-class housing, they save on everything, they don’t know how to relax beautifully.
Russians are not so tight-fisted, Russians always more money, Russians can spend more. It is very good for Crimea that now the main vacationers will be Russians, not Ukrainians. On the other side of the coin, it should be noted that Russian vacationers always have much more claims than Ukrainians.
2. Ukrainians are more trusting than Russians. They trust their media. Probably, this is because the majority of Ukrainians (not counting Westerners) are of rural origin.
Russians are more critical, Russians have more analytical skills.
3. Ukrainians act according to the principle: "My hut is on the edge." This means that they will watch with popcorn how Donbass militias from Russia die for them in the Donbass, but if they themselves have to fight against the Nazis, the Ukrainians will refuse, because mercantile goods are more expensive for them: salaries, pensions, livelihood than they will feed their children and loved ones. There is no Russian courage and heroism in Ukrainians.
Russian people, for example, in the Crimea, do everything themselves, without shifting responsibility to others. And they steadfastly overcome all the difficulties of the transition period. Look at the percentage of Russians and Ukrainians in Crimea, Donbass and other regions of Ukraine. That is why everything worked out in Crimea, nothing comes out in the Donbass, and in other regions of Ukraine it is completely quiet and smooth, there are not even any rallies.
4. For some reason, Russians consider it prestigious in the mentor or in the civil service.
For Ukrainians, on the contrary, the civil service and the mentor are not quoted in the slightest, and it is considered prestigious to do business.
5. Russians are kinder. I won’t say that all Ukrainians are evil, but Russians are definitely kinder.
Even here in the magazine, if you compare what Russians and Ukrainians write in the comments on my blog, you can see that Russians (not all, but many) radiate kindness and affectionate attitude towards the inhabitants of Crimea (for example, my LiveJournal friends like commander
or klimev
), and the Ukrainians are sarcastic and trying to make everything bad in Crimea. A prominent representative of such Ukrainians is columbus2
, but, fortunately, I have already banned him, and I will no longer read his monstrous mockery of me. Not all Ukrainians are like that, of course. There are also good kind Ukrainians. These are Ukrainians who are Russians by nationality. For example, avicto
.
6. Even in appearance, Ukrainians are slightly different from Russians. Among Russians, there are more fair people (with blond hair), Russians are more chubby. However, sometimes you can’t tell by appearance, because both of them are Slavs.
Other differences do not come to my mind yet, maybe someone will add in the comments.
In view of recent political developments, the search for differences between the two peoples risks becoming a holivar. Numerous forums, comments in the Internet media and the blogosphere emotionally testify to how a Russian differs from a Ukrainian, what character traits prevail on one side and on the other, personal experience international communication. Of course, the comparison of both nations and their individual representatives is not only incorrect, but also completely unconstructive, and does not bring any benefit. But sometimes, in order to be convinced of the insignificance of excellent features or the absence of them, it is still worth trying to compare the incomparable.
So, let's start directly with the definitions of "Russian" and "Ukrainian". Today, in everyday speech, “Russians” are to a large extent an ethnicity, while “Ukrainians” are more often a designation of citizenship. This difference comes from a dichotomous interpretation of the concept of "nation": how ethnic community and as a community of citizens of one country. The rhetoric of the “Russian” community (not to be confused with the “Russian”) is to a large extent nationalist, the rhetoric of the “Ukrainian” suffers less from this. Perhaps this is due to the historical mixing of ethnic groups in the republics Soviet Union in the direction from the center to the periphery: the mass relocation of Russian personnel to the outskirts, including the Ukrainian SSR, could not but become a multi-ethnic platform for the republic, and then for the independent state of Ukraine. The mixing of nations in the RSFSR was minimal due to the insignificant presence (on a national scale) of national cadres, which, however, did not interfere with the friendship of peoples.
“Is it your fault that your cute image ...”
The difference between Russians and Ukrainians is found by most of those who compare not in the specific features of specific people, but in images created to a large extent through the mass media and literature. In the mind of a person familiar from childhood with Gogol's Little Russian melody, Makarenko's descriptions and the Crimean market dialect, the Ukrainian appears as a funny, colorful, attractive figure: good-natured, somewhat cunning in everyday life, fisted lover national dishes and clothes, conservative, cheerful, musical, emotional person fairly solid build. As you can see, this is more corresponds to the image of the villager.
Russian people, due to their significant influence on the formation of the image of the events of the Second World War and the everyday features of Soviet existence, have moved quite far away from the villager. The image of a stern shirt-guy of the proletarian class - cunning in craftsmanship, but naive in everyday life, militarized, but not aggressive, prone to learning and mastering new things, but recognizing exclusively his own methods of cognition - was formed back in Soviet time but is still relevant. True, modernity has added to it a fair share of pessimistic moods, religiosity and archaism. Separately, it is worth mentioning the attitude towards alcohol: despite the really existing idea of the immoderate wine drinking of Russians, there are no signs of personality degradation due to abuse in their image. Rather, alcohol is perceived as a means of emancipation and reducing the degree of severity.
If we abstract from the perception of images and confine ourselves to facts and visualization, then the difference between Ukrainians and Russians will fit into three categories: everyday, cultural and anthropological features. Are those who consider Russians and Ukrainians so right? united people, divided only territorially?
Are you my brother or not?
Both Ukrainians and Russians belong to the white race. Due to the length of the territories, it is impossible to unambiguously determine the phenotype of the population, but we can talk about the relative predominance of one type or another. Yes, on European territory Russia and Far East the features of the Eastern Nordids, European Pontids and Baltids predominate, in the northern regions of the country - the Eastern Baltids, in the Urals - the Uralids, in the southern regions - the northern Pontids. On the territory of Western Ukraine, the features of the Gorids predominate, to the east - the European Pontids, in the south - the Pontids. These are not nicknames, not evidence of racial advantages, but only defining external features.
According to the phenotype, outwardly Ukrainians are dark-eyed, dark-haired, with relatively dark skin (the closer to Western Ukraine), fine-boned and tall, to the east they are lighter and shorter, denser in physique. Russians are light-skinned and light-eyed, light brown hair color is common, with a move to the Urals - a Mongoloid eye section, average height and endomorphic physique. However, in the subway, it is unlikely that it will be possible to distinguish a Ukrainian from a Russian by external signs, because blood in modern people many are mixed.
Temperamentally, Russians and Ukrainians also differ quite noticeably. The sons and daughters of Ukraine, like most southerners, are more emotional, hotter, more impulsive, somewhat more aggressive, in a word, sanguine choleric. Russians, like the inhabitants of the northern lands, are calmer, have a slightly slow reaction, are prone to reasoning and pessimistic moods. Ukrainians are more sociable, Russians are more often misanthropic. In addition, Ukrainians are easily united on a national-territorial basis into communities, while Russians have actually lost the ability to unite. Even in Brighton, everyone is on their own, with the possible exception of the formidable Russian mafia.
Russian cabbage soup, Cossack borscht
AT domestic attitude Ukrainians are distinguished from Russians by thriftiness, the desire to provide themselves with everything necessary on their own. This is due to the fact that the territory of Ukraine is historically predominantly agrarian, because the land allotment, its own economy - the usual lifestyle. Industrial Russia (townspeople as a significant class) had a simpler attitude to the economy, based not on self-sufficiency, but on the interaction of industries. Naturally, the vast Russian territories have always been very heterogeneous, and the way of life in different climatic zones, for example, was different from others. The territory of Ukraine, due to its compactness, was more homogeneous, which ensured relatively equal living conditions.
A warmer climate relative to most Russian lands allowed Ukrainians to spend less energy on basic survival. In part, this shaped the national character as cheerful and good-natured. Russians living in more harsh climate, are accustomed to the struggle for resources and the cost of a huge amount of energy to save them. In addition, the economic and political situation developed in different ways: serfdom on Russian territories created harsher conditions for the peasants than it is in Ukrainian, where serfs long time owned by the Polish elite.
In principle, the main difference between Russians and Ukrainians when posing this question comes to everyone’s mind, but not everyone voices it, due to the dubious quality of the argument. Russians eat cabbage soup, and Ukrainians eat borscht and lard! Really, national cuisines our two peoples are strikingly different, and not only in the use of lard. Naturally, the difference is primarily due to geography: the flat territories of Ukraine exclude forestry and sea fishing, the northern territories of Russia exclude vegetable growing and horticulture. Accordingly, the composition of many national Russian dishes of vegetables includes less, more cereals and potatoes, beef and offal. Ukrainian cuisine includes a very different combination of vegetables (including gourds), pork (and offal), from cereals - mainly buckwheat and wheat. Baking from rye flour is national Russian, from wheat flour is national Ukrainian. In general, in Ukrainian traditions there are a huge number of options for pastry baking, while in Russian it is often fresh.
Salo is a completely different story. For Russians, animal fat was much more often technical than food fat: traditionally, butter, in the absence of such - vegetable. For Ukrainians, pork fat was the basis of many dishes and an independent dish: it was drowned and salted. High calorie content allowed saving on other products, for example, without meat. Russian cuisine favored beef and lamb. This is understandable: for Ukrainians, bulls often replaced horses in work. In Ukrainian cuisine, fried was not in honor, dishes from meat, cereals and vegetables were preferred to stew, as they still prefer.
Flour dishes turned out to be more common in Ukrainian cuisine, and all kinds of dumplings, dumplings, dumplings came to our table from there. They traditionally did not use meat: pieces of dough and lard made them already high-calorie and nutritious. Russians, on the other hand, preferred pastries (with the exception of northern dumplings).
The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it
The folklore of Russians and Ukrainians reflects the peculiarities of everyday life, indirectly confirming the difference between national characters. For example, in Russian songs there is a large proportion of depressive notes, stories about a difficult fate and complaints. In Ukrainian folklore, such plots are practically absent, more often there are songs-narratives, major tunes and dance ones. But Russian folklore certainly includes ditties for the most different topics, and in Ukrainian these short funny poems come with becoming Soviet power, and their topics are usually acute social.
Heroes Ukrainian fairy tales- peasants and domestic animals (bull, ram, goat, rooster), household tales prevail over magical ones. In Russian fairy tales, the magical element is more common, there are many undead among the characters, and in everyday fairy tales the social bias is clearly visible (the rich against the poor, the priest against the worker, the king against the peasant). It is noteworthy that in Ukrainian folklore it is not accepted to be ironic about the mental abilities of people, and in Russian fools completely become princes, winners, or simply receive considerable preferences. The message “and who is the fool now?” in Russian fairy tales is very noticeable, and in modern life willingly applied.
Another difference is the hero-soldier: in Ukrainian folklore such a character is completely absent, in Russian it is perhaps the most popular one. In later Ukrainian folklore, a Cossack hero appears (for example, Cossack Mamai), but he is not a soldier, but a free representative of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, a liberator and the embodiment of justice. In Russian fairy tales, the image of a soldier is not personified, and his prowess is usually very localized.
Judging by fairy tales and songs, the people of Ukraine are closer to the settled life of a peasant, their own household, household prudence, optimism and the ability to have fun. The Russian people, on the other hand, are somewhat more reserved, more acutely aware of social inequality, prone to some kind of mysticism and depressive moods.
Despite the fact that the Ukrainian and Russian peoples are considered closely related, their ethnopsychology differs significantly. The differences are especially pronounced among the female half of the population of these two countries. Ukrainians and Russians differ from each other both in the type of beauty and in a whole set of psychological traits that define such a concept as “the face and character of the nation”.
External differences
Differences in appearance are due to origin, as well as genetic mixing with the peoples living in the neighborhood. The beauty of a Russian woman tends more towards the northern, Finno-Baltic type. These are blond hair (light blond, blond, blond) and eyes (blue, gray, green), correct, but in relation to the type of southern beauties, smaller, more refined facial features.
Ukrainians, on the contrary, are more like southerners. Their facial features are larger and more expressive than those of Russians. Bright contrasts prevail in the shades of the eyes, skin and hair: brown or burning black hair (there are almost no natural blondes), thick black eyebrows with light skin, black, brown or rich green eyes.
If the beauty of a Russian woman can be compared with a crystal-cold winter or a shy early spring, then the beauty of a Ukrainian woman is undoubtedly the height of August, the very sun. Each of these types is good in its own way. Regarding the answer to the question, which one is better, here, as they say, who likes what.
national character
In the same way as appearance, the characters of Russian and Ukrainian women also differ. The first is more restrained, flexible and patient. She forgives her man a lot and in some cases is really ready to "stop a galloping horse and enter a burning hut." In the character of a Russian woman, traces of the norms of Domostroy, which have been hammered into her for centuries, are more preserved, so the habit of being “on the sidelines” in a family is quite natural for many Russian women.
Ukrainian women have a more rebellious, obstinate and freedom-loving character, which is due to the strong influence of the cult of the Mother Goddess. It was distributed in the territories that are now occupied by modern Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine. A Ukrainian woman is less inclined to forgive a man for his imperfections and is always ready to defend her rights in a heated argument.
Intra-family relations of a typical Ukrainian family, for example, late XIX centuries are beautifully described in the story "Kaidasheva family" by Ivan Nechuy-Levitsky. The writer perfectly captured the relationship between relatives, and the role of women in them. Ukrainian women rarely allow themselves to be driven into the position of a victim, more often they quarrel and defend themselves more actively.
divorce statistics
These differences in national characters Divorce statistics confirm this. In Russia in 2012, 1,213,598 marriage unions accounted for 644,101 divorces, which is 53% of total number marriages. In Ukraine, in the same period, 278,356 marriages were concluded, of which 169,797 broke up, which is already 61%. Even with a constant increase in the number of divorces in both countries, the number of divorces in Ukraine is 8% higher.
For comparison, the same figures in other countries: Canada - 48%, USA - 46%, Great Britain - 42%, France - 38%, Japan - less than 27%. Such high level Divorces in Russia and Ukraine are caused, first of all, by material problems and drunkenness of the husband, with which Russian women are more ready to put up with than Ukrainian women.
On the third and fourth places are sexual incompatibility and infidelity of spouses. If the Russians usually accuse the husband of treason (75% of the cheaters are men), then the Ukrainians divided the shares of the perpetrators between the spouses approximately equally (58% of the traitors - 42% of the traitors).
This confirms both the more "hot" temperament of Ukrainian women, and their more free, "matriarchal" views. For a Russian woman, who is much more ready for sacrifice, the preservation of the family is in the first place. Her personal happiness is often relegated to the background by her.
Despite the fact that the Ukrainian and Russian peoples are considered related, their ethnopsychology is different. Differences are especially evident among the female half of the population of these two countries. Ukrainians and Russians differ from each other not only in the type of beauty, but also in a whole set of psychological traits.
External differences
Differences in appearance are due to origin, as well as genetic mixing with the peoples living in the neighborhood. The beauty of a Russian woman tends more towards the northern, Finno-Baltic type. These are blond hair (light blond, blond, blond) and eyes (blue, gray, green), correct, but in relation to the type of southern beauties, smaller, more refined facial features.
Ukrainians, on the contrary, are more like southerners. Their facial features are larger and more expressive than those of Russians. Bright contrasts prevail in the shades of the eyes, skin and hair: brown or burning black hair (there are almost no natural blondes), thick black eyebrows with light skin, black, brown or rich green eyes.
If the beauty of a Russian woman can be compared with a crystal-cold winter or a shy early spring, then the beauty of a Ukrainian woman is undoubtedly the height of August, the very sun. Each of these types is good in its own way. Regarding the answer to the question, which one is better, here, as they say, who likes what.
national character
In the same way as appearance, the characters of Russian and Ukrainian women also differ. The first is more restrained, flexible and patient. She forgives her man a lot and in some cases is really ready to "stop a galloping horse and enter a burning hut." In the character of a Russian woman, traces of the norms of Domostroy, which have been hammered into her for centuries, are more preserved, so the habit of being “on the sidelines” in a family is quite natural for many Russian women.
Ukrainian women have a more rebellious, obstinate and freedom-loving character, which is due to the strong influence of the cult of the Mother Goddess. It was distributed in the territories that are now occupied by modern Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine. A Ukrainian woman is less inclined to forgive a man for his imperfections and is always ready to defend her rights in a heated argument.
The intra-family relations of a typical Ukrainian family, for example, of the late 19th century, are beautifully described in the story "Kaidasheva Family" by Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky. The writer perfectly captured the relationship between relatives, and the role of women in them. Ukrainian women rarely allow themselves to be driven into the position of a victim, more often they quarrel and defend themselves more actively.
divorce statistics
These differences in national characters are also confirmed by divorce statistics. In Russia in 2012, 1,213,598 marriages accounted for 644,101 divorces, which is 53% of the total number of marriages. In Ukraine, in the same period, 278,356 marriages were concluded, of which 169,797 broke up, which is already 61%. Even with a constant increase in the number of divorces in both countries, the number of divorces in Ukraine is 8% higher.
For comparison, the same figures in other countries: Canada - 48%, USA - 46%, Great Britain - 42%, France - 38%, Japan - less than 27%. Such a high level of divorces in Russia and Ukraine is due, first of all, to material problems and the husband's drunkenness, with which Russian women are more ready to put up with than Ukrainian women.
On the third and fourth places are sexual incompatibility and infidelity of spouses. If the Russians usually accuse the husband of treason (75% of the cheaters are men), then the Ukrainians divided the shares of the perpetrators between the spouses approximately equally (58% of the traitors - 42% of the traitors).
This confirms both the more "hot" temperament of Ukrainian women, and their more free, "matriarchal" views. For a Russian woman, who is much more ready for sacrifice, the preservation of the family is in the first place. Her personal happiness is often relegated to the background by her.
We often hear that both the Russian and Ukrainian nations both belong to the group Slavic peoples. But is it really so? Even judging by the appearance of Russians and Ukrainians, not everything looks so unambiguous...
Slavs or Turks?
Is it possible to distinguish a Russian from a Ukrainian at first sight? Of course not. And in those, and in others, a lot of blood is mixed. But still some general patterns can be distinguished.
It is indisputable that both Russians and Ukrainians belong to the white race. At the same time, the following phenotype prevails in the central zone of Russia: medium height, medium build, light skin, light (gray or blue) eyes, light brown hair color. The closer to the Urals, the more common the Mongoloid incision of the eyes.
Now look at the Ukrainians. The further east, the more people of the Slavic phenotype are found - short stature, dense physique, fair skin, eyes and hair. The further west, the more Ukrainians come across with relatively dark skin, dark eyes and hair.
All this is explained by historical and geographical features. Yes, in those Russian regions, which were actively subjected to raids by the Mongol-Tatars, where Tatars, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Kirghiz, Kalmyks, Yakuts live next to the Russians, the Mongoloid phenotype is much more common. Ukraine, on the other hand, suffered from raids to an even greater extent than Rus', and besides, it was not for nothing that it received such a name, being a “outlying” territory bordering Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and Turkey. Some researchers believe that Ukrainians are much closer to Turkic peoples than Russians.
Scientific research
Anthropological studies of Ukrainians began in the 60s 19th century. This issue has been studied most extensively in turn of XIX and XX centuries, an outstanding Ukrainian anthropologist and ethnographer, professor of the Russian and Paris Academies of Sciences H. Volk. Special attention he paid attention to the differences between Ukrainians and other Slavic peoples.
So, he wrote that immigrants from Ukraine are mostly dark-haired and dark-eyed, while Russians, Belarusians and Poles are mostly fair-haired and light-eyed. Russians and Belarusians have a longer skull than Ukrainians. According to anthropological terminology, Russians and Belarusians belong to the long-headed peoples, Ukrainians - to the round-headed ones. If Russians often have wide faces and cheekbones, then among Ukrainians there are more narrow-faced ones. Their noses are usually straight. The so-called concave nose, according to Volk, is found in Volyn, in the east and north of Ukraine, which is explained by the admixture of Russian, Belarusian and Polish blood. A curved (eagle) nose is usually found among residents of the south-east of Ukraine and, according to the scientist, is the result of ties with Iranian tribes.
The arm length of Ukrainians is average - less than that of Russians and Belarusians and slightly longer than that of the Balkan Slavs. But the length of the legs is much longer than that of the Russians. H. Volk's colleague A. Ivanovsky writes that Ukrainians belong to the group of the most "long-legged" tribes. Researchers of the past attributed Ukrainians to tall peoples, and Russians, Belarusians and Poles to short ones.
Recent genetic studies have confirmed that the Aryan-Slavic male haplogroup R1a is more common among Russians than among Ukrainians. At the same time, the female haplogroups of the Russians are completely Slavic and correspond to the same haplogroups of the Poles.
Are Ukrainians from the Balkans?
Nowadays, many anthropologists and geneticists have come to the conclusion that the current Western Ukrainians belong to the circle of "Balkan" populations. Their ancestors originally belonged to the Thracian ethno-linguistic group and migrated to the territory of modern Ukraine, most likely from the territory of modern Romania. From the point of view of anthropology, Ukrainians belong to the so-called Alpine race, while the northern Slavs, including Russians, belong to the Baltic and Nordic races. Another classification refers Ukrainians to the Dnieper-Carpathian group of populations, which also includes Slovaks, partially Czechs, Serbs, Croats, as well as southern, central and eastern Hungarians. Probably, many will agree that typical Hungarians are not like typical Russians. But among Ukrainians there are many similar to Hungarians. They are closer to the south and Western Slavs than to the east.
So it cannot be argued that Russians and Ukrainians are the same (at least from the point of view of anthropology and genetics).
