Marina Kirichenko
Najbolje vrijeme u našoj hemisferi za promatranje Mliječnog puta u svoj njegovoj ljepoti je ljeto. A to je svakako vrijeme za posjet prekrasnoj jadranskoj obali Hrvatske. Ovdje možete pronaći jedno vrlo zanimljivo mjesto – grad Ston, s impresivnim utvrdama i tradicionalnom proizvodnjom soli. Znate li da je za Ukrajince naziv Mliječnog puta, “Чумацький Шлях” (Čumackij Šljah) na ukrajinskom, usko povezan sa solju?
Čumackij Šljah znači put, cesta, prolaz čumaka, odnosno trgovaca. Vjeruje se da je riječ “čumak” posuđena iz turskih jezika s nizom značenja od “čovjeka s dugom štapom ili žlicom, hrabar i moćan čovjek” itd. Ti su trgovci uglavnom prevozili i prodavali sol s Crnog i Azovskog mora. Dio soli se prosuo i prekrio cestu. Zato se široka zvjezdana traka na nebu naziva po trgovcima soli, iako se može koristiti i klasično ime.
Proizvodnja soli u Ukrajini ima nekoliko izvora i dugu povijest. Način na koji su čumaci skupljali sol na jugu moderne Ukrajine najsličniji je hrvatskom. Ovdje, u regiji Crnog i Azovskog mora, sol se skupljala iz prirodnih slanih jezera. “Žetva” je ovisila o vremenu, a trgovina solju nosila je i mnoge druge rizike, poput napada Krimskih Tatara i pljačke. Čumaci su prevozili i žito, ribu, začine i drugu robu.
Od 15. stoljeća, do vrhunca u 18. i 19. stoljeću, čumakovanje je bilo tradicionalno zanimanje trgovanja kolima. Ranije proljeće, čumaci su pripremali svoje kočije ili kola, zapregnuli ih za volove, obično besarabijske pasmine, i krenuli na put da se vrate u jesen.
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Njihov put kroz jugoistočne stepe, odnosno prostrane travnate ravnice, nije bio lak ni siguran. Svi čumaci nisu bili samo poduzetnici, već su se mogli i braniti mačevima. U određenom razdoblju u 17. stoljeću, kada se pojavila Kozačka Hetmanština, prva ukrajinska pro-državna zajednica, čumaci su uživali zaštitu naoružanih ratnika ove države. S razvojem željezničkog prometa, ovo zanimanje je nestalo. Ali ostavio je značajan trag u ukrajinskoj povijesti, jeziku i kulturi.
Osim ukrajinskog naziva Mliječnog puta, postoji i prezime Čumak. Mnogo narodnih pjesama inspirirano je ljepotom i nedaćama života čumaka. Postoje i remek-djela ukrajinskog, krimsko-armensko, svjetski poznatog slikara Ivana Ajvazovskog (pogrešno označenog kao ruskog), koji pokušavaju zamisliti ta davna vremena.
Nakon propadanja proizvodnje soli na jugu moderne Ukrajine, pojavio se drugi centar ove industrije na istoku zemlje. Grad Bakhmut, koji smo spomenuli u vezi s najvećim vinarijom u istočnoj Europi, doživljavao je brz razvoj proizvodnje kuhinjske soli.
Ali to je priča za neki drugi dan.
The salty skies of Ukraine
The best time in our hemisphere to observe the Milky Way in its full beauty is summer. As it surely is the time to visit the magnificent Adriatic shore of Croatia. Here, one can find a very interesting place — the city of Ston, with its impressive fortifications and traditional industry of salt production. Do you know that for Ukrainians the name of the Milky Way, Chumatskyy shlyah in Ukrainian, is closely associated with salt?
Chumatskyy shlyah means the pathway, road, passage of chumaks, i.e. merchants. The word “chumak” is believed to be borrowed from Turkic languages with a range of meanings from “a man with a long stick or a ladle, a brave and mighty man”, etc. These merchants were mainly transporting and selling salt from the Black and Azov seas. Some salt spilled and covered the road. That is why a broad starry streak in the sky is called after the salt merchants, though the classical name can also be used.
Salt production in Ukraine has several sources and a long history. The way chumaks gathered salt in the south of modern Ukraine is the most similar to the Croatian one. Here, in the Black and Azov sea region, salt was gathered from natural salty lakes. The “harvest” depended on the weather, and salt trading carried a lot of other risks, such as attacks by the Crimean tatars and robbery. Chumaks transported grains, fish, spices and other goods as well.
From the 15th century, to the peak in the 18th and 19th centuries, chumakuvannya was a traditional wagon trading occupation. Early in the spring, chumaks arranged their carts or wagons, harnessed them to oxen, usually of the Bessarabian breed, and left to return in autumn.
Their way through the south-eastern steps, i.e. vast grassy plane, was not an easy or a safe one. All chumaks were not only entrepreneurs but could also defend themselves with their swords. For some period in the 17th century, when there appeared the Cossak Hetmanate, the first Ukrainian pro-state unity, chumaks enjoyed the protection of armed warriors of this state. With the development of railway transportation, this occupation disappeared. But it left a significant trace in Ukrainian history, language and culture.
In addition to the Ukrainian name of the Milky Way, there is a surname Chumak. Plenty of folk songs are inspired by the beauty and hardships of chumaks’ lives. There are also masterpieces by the Ukrainian, Crimean-Armenian, world-known painter Ivan Ivazovsky (mistakenly marked as Russian), to try and imagine those long gone times.
Since the decline of salt production in the south of modern Ukraine, another center of this industry has appeared in the east of the country. The city of Bakhmut, which we mentioned with regard to the largest winery in Eastern Europe, was experiencing a rapid development of table salt production. But this is a story for another day.
A.Karlovic
