Zemplin

Zemplin - an unusual ethnic mix

 

In the 11th century, Zemplin was established as an independent administrative unit. The seat of the poviat was first at the Zemplin castle, then in the city of Zemplin, from the mid-18th century in Novom Meste pod Šiatrom (a town located in Hungary, which at that time belonged to the Rakoczy family), and in the years 1918-1923 in Michalovce. The settlement of Zemplin was initially concentrated in the East Slovak Lowland. From the fourteenth century, as part of the colonization under the Wallachian law, mainly Ruthenians inhabited the mountain areas of the region. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the southern area of Zemplín was ravaged by the invasions of the Turks. The anti-Habsburg uprisings there had an equally negative impact on the inhabitants of the region. In the 18th century, there was a mass migration of the poorer part of the population to the fertile southern regions of Europe (southern Hungary, part of Romania, part of Bulgaria and Serbia). The city of Sečovce lost the most, but also Kráľovský Chlmec, Michalovce, Snina, Trebišov and Zemplín. Some villages are completely deserted. After the anti-Habsburg uprisings ended, these settlements were revived. The largest town in the county at that time was Nové Mesto pod Šiatrom, located in today's Hungary and in the Slovak part of Trebiszów.

From the national point of view, the population of Zemplín, next to Slovaks, consists of Hungarians, Ruthenians and Roma. Ruthenians live from the Low Beskids to the Stropkov, Papín and Snina lines. Several villages on the border of Zemplín and the Abov region (Zemplínska Teplica, Slivník, Kuzmice) are also referred to as Ruthenian (they define themselves as Slovaks) due to their belonging to the Greek Catholic Church. On the south-eastern edge of Zemplín, there are around 20 municipalities with over 90% of the population of Hungarian nationality. The Roma population also has a relatively strong representation here, mainly concentrated in the area of central Zemplín, especially in the villages of Hlinné, Drahňov, Čičava, Laškovce, Palota and Blatné Remety.

From an ethnographic point of view, the Ruthenian population living in the Zemplín region can be divided into two branches. The first of them are the Lemkos who live in Slovakia from the village of Vyšna Jablonka in the east to the village of Veliky Lipnik (Slovak: Veľký Lipník) in the west. The second of them is Pujďaci (the name comes from the dialect), i.e. Boykos, living in the area from the Pčolinka river and the headwaters of Cirocha to the borders of Poland and Ukraine. Seven Boyko villages disappeared in the second half of the 1980s because of the construction of the Starina reservoir. Another ethnographic group inhabiting the area of Zemplín are Sotaci. Their name comes from a dialect in which, instead of the pronoun asking what (čo?), They say "so". They are villagers in the area between Humenne and Snina, in the region of the Udava and Cirocha tributaries to Laborec and south of Humenne. A related ethnographic group are the so-called Sobranecky Sotáci, living in eight villages southeast of Sobraniec. It is worth mentioning that the name "Soták" (like Boyko) was used in an offensive sense to refer to rural farmers, but it is not perceived negatively at present and Sotaks are proud to organize their cultural events.