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Heritage The Slavic Festival honors the heritage of Sugar Creek, which was built on a wave of Slavic immigrants in the early 1900s. The early Slavs came from Indo-European lands, spreading from various parts of Asia into Eastern Europe about 2,000 BC. Under the pressure of nomadic hoards the Slavic tribes crossed the Carpathian Mountains and pushed their way down to the Balkans. Others moved westward toward the upper Danube, and still others eastward toward the River Dniper and Black Sea. This migration continued from the fourth through the eighth century, giving birth to the Slavic nations that we know today. For many centuries the Slavic tribes used the same common language. Starting with the migration into Eastern Europe some dialectical differences began to develop among the various tribes. Generally, linguists divide the Slavs into three main groups - Western Slavs, Southern or Yugoslavs, and Eastern Slavs. The Western Slavs embrace modern nations of Czechs, Slovaks, Lusitian Serbs and Poles. Southern Slavs include Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, Macedonians and Bulgarians. The Eastern Slavs are subdivided into three separate branches: Russians (or Muscovites), White (or Bielo-Russians) and Rusyns (or Ukrainian). In the late 1800s and early 1900s political and economic tension triggered a wave of emigration from the Slavic nations to America. These hard working people came to form settlements in cities and neighborhoods, like Sugar Creek, where jobs and the American Dream welcomed their arrival. Today, millions of Americans trace their family heritage to the Slavic nations. Celebrations, like the Sugar Creek Slavic Festival, remind us of those roots and the sacrifices made by those who came before us seeking a better life. |
