GAY ETHNIC ROOTS

By Leon Stevens

Opportunities for up-front gay male cruising have proliferated to the extent that we find it impossible to imagine a world without them. Due to the confusion and silence with which our grandparents addressed gayness, we are too quick to conclude that homo-emotion is utterly alien to our ethnic roots. NOT TRUE! Even in the most hostile social environments, same-sex interaction surfaces in highly recognizable forms.

HIGH GEAR/DECEMBER 1977

center around the "druzhina," an institution which survived until World War II in the Balkans.

A typical, seasoned Bulgarian ballad celebrates:

"What is dearest to me, mother, Is to ride in Thodor's Heather, And to climb up Pirin Mountain, And to share the crystal fountain 'Neath the tall tree in the glen With my company of men."

Many of these heroic ballads came to be modified and transformed into hunting and drinking songs, but their emphasis on male-to-male companionship remained. A beloved (but rather shockingly misogynist) Polish lyric goes: "We're riding to the hunt, to the hunt,

my friend!

Gay men in ancient Europe invariably found themselves in paramilitary bands. These were essentially groups of males who abandoned domestic life to associate with each other in a socially acceptable fashion. Since professional militancy was (and still is) universally recognized as a legitimate alternative to domesticity, bellicose homoaffinal contingents arose throughout Europe's early history, shaping it and contributing a fundamental 'Til a fleeing fox we've seen. ingredient to European folklore. Take aim well, then fire a shell!

For example, ancient and even relatively recent Slavic folk literature records the exploits and sentiments of various "druzhini." A "druzhina" (from old Slavic "drug" meaning "male friend) consisted of a tightly-associated group of warriors (or guerillas) who furthered the expansionist policies of their tribe or resisted the foreign occupation and domination of their country. Many Slavic epics and songs

Riding through the forest green, 'Til a strutting stage we've seen. Take aim well, then fire a shell! Friend, oh friend of mine! Friend, oh friend of mine!

...

'Til a bolting boar we've seen. Take aim well, then fire a shell!

DOD

'Til a darting wench we've seen. Take aim well, then fire a shell!

Perhaps the most famous selforiginating all-male company in Slavic lands was that of Zaporozhe Cossacks. This mob, which evolved into an informal army, virtually founded the Ukraine as a cultural and political entity. It gradually

became sedentary and heterosexualized, but Ukranian folklore preserves much of its original homo-erotic comradeship. Most regions of the Ukraine feature all-male dances replete with handholding, embracing, athletic demonstrations and erotic gestures. In contrast, dance steps for women are relatively featureless (If you bypassed the performance of the Yatran Ukranian Dancers at the Hanna Theatre last month, you missed witnessing some of these exciting dances!)

The crusades of the Middle Ages afforded a number of closeted gay men the chance to escape from heterosexual matchmaking and turn

"Professional." Numerous crusaders formed independent, internally loyal forces, which by choice, never returned "home." A classic example of such was the Knights of the Teutonic Order, who returned from Palestine to settle, not in Germany, but in the isolated non-German Baltic coast. Once geographically fixed, they gave rise to the Prussian state which eventually dominated and unified Germany.

Prussian detachment, indpendence and militarism permeated German culture. "Wanderlust" ("urge to wander") overwhelms German folk songs. For example, the archetypal and well-known songs: "Tomorrow I Must Be Gone from Here," "I Must Seek My Fortune, Mar-

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THE "DRUZHINA" OF THE ZAPOROZHE COSSACKS BY THE UKRAINIAN PAINTER, REPIN.

ching," or even innocent ditties like "The Happy Wanderer," all recall the tribal Teautonic past, when certain men felt an irresistable compulsion to dissassociate themselves from the breeding the breeding masses. The urge becomes refined and intense in the most favorite German national ballad, "Die Lorelei" (('The Siren") which begins: "I don't know why I feel so sad. It brings an ancient tale to mind." The subject then recounts a tale in which a young mariner is helplessly but pleasureably drawn toward a mysterious and violent goal.

The "El Cid" and "Roland" legends of Spain and France, and of course, the "Arthur" legends of England are also, no doubt, vestiges of archaic gay male factioning.

Same-sex folk dances are popular especially in Eastern and Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Many gayinspired folk songs are disguised by not identifying the sex of the speaker. An example of this is the Macedonian ballad "Jovano" recorded by lesbianfeminists Lavender Jane.

In this article I have avoided discussing Lesbian contributions to folk music (although overtly lesbian lyrics and dances are more frequent and perhaps richer than maleoriented works) in order to outline the impact of all-male aggregates on European history.

To be sure, a great deal could be said about lesbian ethnic poetry which is prolific and as (CONT'D ON PAGE 16

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