Ukrainian fairy tale

When eastern Ukraine was under the rule of the Russian Empire, activities thought to promote feelings of Ukrainian nationalism or pride were banned, but folklore, seen as the province of a rural, ignorant people, was thought to be harmless.[8] Because folklore was considered to advance a perception that Ukraine (called “Little Russia” by the Russian Empire) was a backward, border place, research and study of Ukrainian folklore was even considered beneficial for the subjugation of Ukrainians.[8] It is in part due to this permissive view on Ukrainian folklore that scholarly work on Ukrainian folklore from the 1800's is available today.[8]

Under the heirarchy of the Russian Empire, Russia was considered “Great Russia”, Belarus “White Russia”, and Ukraine to be “Little Russia”.[8]  When initially published, much Ukrainian folklore was not published as Ukrainian folklore, but instead labeled as Russian folklore.[8]  When Ukrainian folklore has been labeled as Russian, Ukrainian folk tales can be discerned from Russian folklore from the language used, and often with indications of a place where the folk tale was collected.[4] While a similar situation existed in western Ukraine under control of Austro-Hungary, there was less attempt to assimilate Ukrainian people and culture into a larger dominant political group.[8][9]

Under Soviet Union rule encompassing both east and west Ukraine, folklore was treated more suspiciously by authorities.[9]  The Soviet government realized the effectiveness of folklore and sought to replace traditional folklore with new Soviet folklore that promoted principles the Soviet government considered desirable such as submissiveness and collectivism.[9][10]  Thus, Ukrainian folklore under Soviet rule required sanitizing older tales of aspects deemed threatening such as references to religion or ideas which might encourage thoughts of Ukrainian pride or nationalism, including references particularly Ukrainian such as pysanky.[9]