The Dovbush's Path
The memory of the famous Ukrainian heroes, such as Oleksa Dovbush and his predecessors, such as Boychuk, Vartsaba, Shtoka etc. are being kept in the memory of the nation in various legends, as well as in the inscriptions carved on the steep rocks, stones and centennial trees.
The study of the Ukrainian national hero has an interesting history of its own. Up to the middle of the 19th century Oleksa Dovbush was known from folklore only, his life having been wrapped in various legends, stories, songs going back to the 18th century. That is why some historians, writers and folklorists considered Dovbush to be nobody but the epic hero, the symbol of struggle against the oppressors. Besides, by the middle of the 19th century, there had been found no documents or reliable historical sources on that subject.
After 1888, there appeared some short articles and notes concerning Dovbush's activity.
The gentry, merchants and lessees of the mountain regions were in constant fright of Dovbush's attacks.
Dovbush struggled against feudalism not only in Halych region attached to the Carpathians, but in the Transcarpathia region, Bukovyna and Podillya also.
By now the information concerning the last days of Dovbush's life and his death was available from the archive documents only. One of those is a judicial record of Stepan Dzvinchuk confession made on August 27, 1745 before the court of Stanislav town.
According to that document Oleksa Dovbush made a short work of a Mochernyuk from Mykulychintsy on August 23 and on the same night made his appearance at the house of Dzvinchuk in Kosmach, where he was mortally wounded. His adopted brothers took him to the forest where he died on the following morning, i.e. August 24, 1745.
The Rock of Dovbush near Yaremche became the symbol of courage of the opryshkies. A legend tells the following: The opryshkies wanted to capture a landlord's household, but there was an obstacle, a rock, on their way that none of them could move. It was Oleksa to lift it and to throw it on the castle it thus having been immediately ruined. After that Dovbush took the rock and put it next to the wide road for everyone to see it as a reminder of the impossibility to overcome the rebels. And for enemies to know that the strength of the nation is as hard as a rock!
The legends and tales about rock caves of Dovbush are being passed from father to son. But their mystery seems impossible to finally reveal either for historians or for ethnographers. Our ancestors might have performed their religious ceremonies there long before Christianity. It is considered also that Danylo of Halych had his fortress there and that the opryshkies had their shelter there later on. A huge hand is carved at the entrance to the main cave and a legend thinks it to be Oleksa Dovbush's hand.
To visit Dovbush's Stone was a kind of pilgrimage for such prominent Ukrainians as I.Franko, M.Kotsyubynskyi, S.Krushelnytska.
Those keen on visiting Dovbush's memorials can take the route from Yaremche to Doboshanka mountain. Many a legend are being told about this mountain and they say Oleksa spent a winter in Doboshanka, thus the name of the mountain.
And, as legends say, somewhere there store-caves exist formerly used by the opryshkies to hide weapon and food. Dovbush's treasures and arms are said to have been hidden there. It was also a starting point for attacks, and poor peasants were invited here when the plunder was to be divided. Everything seems to have the history of its own here, even one of the stones lying at the foothill of the mountain. When Dovbush had to climb the mountain to call his good opryshkies together, he used to rest against this stone. The documents confirm Oleksa Dovbush's stay in that region from 1743 to 1744.
One can't resist the unparalleled charm of local rocks and forests, as the virgin beauty of "live" and "dead" nature of the Carpathians seems to be mixed here in a kind of magic way.
A journey into the legend is possible along Dovbush's path, which starts from the outskirts of Yaremche in the nature reserve "Dribka", situated at the entrance to the railway tunnel 100 m away from a large stone called "Dovbush's Stone". This reserve is a kind of natural memorial, a witness to many centuries and a clear reminder of them. It is characterized by many protuberances of the Yamyansky sand-stone forming rocks and caves.
The length of the path is 2,000 m and a 1 to 1,5 hour walk is needed to cover it. It runs through the places where the celebrated Oleksa Dovbush and his adopted brothers led their struggle against social and national oppression in the period of 1738-1745. The Halych "opryshkies" wrote one of the brightest pages into the history of Ukraine.
For the first time the written evidence concerning those rebels appeared in 1529. The history of the "opryshkies" is full of legends, the majority of which tells about the mysterious stones, standing along the path. One of them narrates that Oleksa once stuck his silver axe into a large stone, which now stands by the right side of the road from Yaremche to Vorokhta. From that time on the path got its present name - Dovbush's path.