the great hutsul shepherd dog

named hutsulskaia sobaka in ukrainian and ciobănesc alb ucrainean in romanian, is found in the area inhabited by the hutsul people, in bucovina, maramuresh and pokuttya.

a molosser (group of large, solidly built dogs, that might descend from the same root), closely related to the other sheepdog races of the carpathians, like the slovak watchdog, the polish tatra or the hungarian kuvasz, but extremely rare in comparison to those; it bares some similarities with the turkish akbash too.

some consider the great hutsul dog as a result of breeding between races of sheepdogs from the carpathians (romania, slovakia, poland), while others say that it is older than most of those races.

the hutsul shepherd dog is used by the hutsuls as a protector of the sheep herds, and also as a watchdog of the property. it has a very powerful muscular body and is renowed for fighting off predators (wolves, bears). its color is white, if pure, and its height around 68 centimeters (27 inches).

unfortunately, it's not yet recognised by the fédération cynologique internationale (world canine federation)

49th hutsul rifle regiment

it seems the 11th carpathian infantry division of the polish army had a hutsul unit, and it wasn't only about the name. the 49th hutsul rifle regiment (49 huculski pulk strzelcow) consisted mostly of hutsul soldiers and was garrisoned in kolomyja, town in the hutsul inhabited pokuttya which still is a center of hutsul culture.

in 1937 the first battalion of the polish army was named hutsul battalion of the polish legions, in 1938 the term hutsul expanding to the whole regiment (replacing kresy). previously, the polish legions had a hutsul company, during ww1, its service being appreciated as outstanding.

at special events, the hutsuls of the regiment not only that were allowed, but were even recommended to wear hutsul traditional clothes.

this regiment is remembered as a brave and original one, thanks to its attacks on germans. first, against the 4th light division (10 september '39) and then the famous night attack against ss-standarte germania (15/16 september '39), when hutsuls unloaded their rifles and used the bayonets to catch germans unaware; and they firmly did, even commanders being among those killed. the other germans scattered in panic or were taken prisoners. the next day, hutsuls were shocked to see how much equipment they captured.

anyway, after reaching lviv (19 september '39), the regiment capitulated to the red army.

hutsuls in polish paintings

my dad found these paintings on artyzm dot com and i thought it would be interesting to show you some representations of the hutsuls in art. all these are polish painters.

territories inhabited by hutsuls were included some times in poland, last time in the interwar period, when the land of the hutsuls (hutsulschyna) was divided between poland (pokuttya), czechoslovakia (transcarpathia and northern maramures) and romania (bucovina and southern maramures). the hutsuls live there where these regions meet.

juliusz kossak - hutsuls on their way to the market (1860)


waclaw szymanowski - courtship / umizgi huculskie (1892)


wladyslaw szerner - going to the wedding


teodor axentowicz - hutsul funeral / pogrzeb huculski


waclaw szymanowski - chatting / w huculskiej izbie (1891)


fryderyk pautsch - hutsul funeral / pogrzeb huculski (1907)


wladyslaw jarocki - hutsul funeral / pogrzeb huculski (1905)

hutsul - rusyn zone of north romania

i used official data of the romanian census of 2002 to calculate the number of hutsuls and rusyns in northern romania. there is a compact zone of 23 comune (administrative center of a number of villages) and one town with significant ukrainian population (in romania both hutsuls and rusyns are included to ukrainians in statistics).

keep in mind that i considered only the locations in the ukrainian compact area in which you will find only places historically belonging to the hutsul or rusyn ethnics.
so, i didn't considered other villages, even if they are inhabited by rusyns, because they are surrounded by villages and towns of romanian ethnics.

also keep in mind that these are the official numbers, and not the exact reality on the field. many hutsuls, rusyns and other ethnics declare themselves romanians, even if some of them still speak their language in family or in the community. i will give the most eloquent example: breaza, where they all declared themselves romanians, but actually they are hutsuls. if you'll go to breaza, you'll hear spoken only the hutsul dialect. i won't treat here the reasons of not declaring yourself what you are. it was just an example to show that the number of hutsuls and rusyns has to be much larger in reality; maybe even double.

these are the numbers for what i call the ukrainian compact area of northwest suceava county and north maramureş county:

total population: 139,514
(88,561 romanians; 37,426 ucrainians; 10,286 hungarians...)

the hutsul zone of suceava county
(totally 23,664: 19,352 romanians; 3.939 ucrainians; 280 germans...)

izvoarele sucevei - 2,279 (1,177 ucrainians; 1,102 romanians)

moldova suliţa - 2,084 (1,855 romanians; 164 ucrainians; 63 roma; 1 german; 1 lipovan russian)

breaza - 1,690 (1,690 de romanians)

cîrlibaba - 1,981 (1,690 romanians; 178 germans; 106 ucrainians; 5 hungarians; 1 pole; 1 undeclared)

ulma - 2,289 (1,343 ucrainians; 946 romanians)

brodina - 3,661 (3,219 romanians; 418 ucrainians; 18 germans; 1 hungarian; 1 jew; 1 pole; 1 armenian; 2 undeclared)

moldoviţa - 5,021 (4,763 romanians; 209 ucrainians; 37 germans; 5 poles; 4 slovaks; 1 turk; 1 jew; 1 undeclared)

vatra moldoviţei - 4,659 (4,087 romanians; 522 ucrainians; 46 germans; 1 pole; 3 undeclared)

the hutsul zone of maramureş county
(totally 52,129 - 26,220 romanians; 23,239 ucrainians; 611 hungarians...)

poienile de sub munte - 10,033 (9,696 ucrainians; 256 romanians; 61 hungarians; 5 armenians; 8 germans; 2 lipovan russians; 2 roma; 1 tatar; 1 serbian; 1 jew)

repedea - 4,761 (4,650 ucrainians; 87 romanians; 15 roma; 7 hungarians)

bistra - 4,423 (4,021 ucrainians; 399 romanians; 3 hungarians)

ruscova - 4,854 (4,578 ucrainians; 161 romanians; 109 roma; 3 hungarians; 3 germans)

petrova - 2,693 (2,658 romanians; 24 roma; 7 ucrainians; 4 hungarians)

leordina - 2,593 (2,584 romanians; 7 ucrainians; 1 hungarian; 1 turk)

vişeu de sus - 16,879 (14,878 romanians; 1,114 germans; 530 hungarians; 274 ucrainians; 70 roma; 3 italians; 2 poles; 1 armenian; 1 lipovan russian; 6 undeclared)

vişeu de jos - 5,282 (5,197 romanians; 75 roma; 6 ucrainians; 2 hungarians; 1 german; 1 undeclared)

the rusyn zone of maramureş county
(totally 63,721 - 42,989 romanians; 10,248 ucrainians; 9,669 hungarians...)

rona de sus - 4.698 (4.062 ucrainians; 421 hungarians; 207 romanians; 5 germans; 1 slovak; 2 undeclared)

rona de jos - 2.110 (2.069 romanians; 21 roma; 18 ucrainians; 2 hungarians)

bocicoiu mare - 4.468 (2.639 ucrainians; 1.447 romanians; 371 hungarians; 5 germans; 1 rom; 5 undeclared)

sighetu marmaţiei - 41,220 (32.867 romanians; 6.513 hungarians; 1.226 ucrainians; 448 roma; 105 germans; 20 jews; 8 italians; 3 serbians; 2 turks; 2 lipovan russians; 2 armenians; 1 slovak; 1 czech; 1 greek; 1 pole; 1 csango; 17 undeclared)

cîmpulung la tisa - 2.484 (1.964 hungarians; 425 romanians; 67 roma; 23 ucrainians; 3 germans; 2 lipovan russians)

săpînţa - 3.267 (3.240 romanians; 17 roma; 8 ucrainians; 2 hungarians)

sarasău - 2.416 (2.335 romanians; 52 roma; 14 hungarians; 12 ucrainians; 2 germans; 1 pole)

remeţi - 3.058 (2.260 ucrainians; 399 romanians; 382 hungarians; 14 roma; 3 germans)

the hutsul pony is no pony

instead, it's a draft horse first mentioned in hippica (1606), originally from the area inhabited by the hutsul people in the carpathian mountains (there where bucovina, pokuttya and maramuresh meet). a draft horse is a large horse used for hard, heavy tasks; the hutsul pony possesses great endurance and hardiness. it's known as calm and used by hutsuls especially for riding and transporting timber in areas inaccessible by other means.

there are two theories on its origin, one telling that the hutsul pony is the direct descendant of the tarpan (eurasian wild horse) and the other saying the hutsul pony is the descendant of the horses depicted on monuments erected by roman emperors trajan and domitian as draft horses of the dacians.

austro-hungarian army used it, as bucovina was part of the empire from 1774 to 1918.

on some sites it states that the world population exceeds 1000, but i would estimate that number only for the area inhabited by the hutsul people.


the most important raising center is lucina (founded 1877), in the hutsul village sulitsa (in romanian moldova-suliţa), northwest of suceava county.

the other centers are: gładyszów, odrzechowa (poland), topoľčianky (slovakia), aggtelek (hungary), prague (czech rep).