Сербине, Сербиночку | Matriarchal ballad in modern Ukrainian | Балада часів матріархату

Ballad about Serbyn. From the era of matriarchy. At the time when this song was written, the father was unknown, only the mother and children were known. The brother was a kind of guardian of his sisters, he married them off economically for the family. The conflict of the ballad about the sister and brother is based on this. In this ballad, a sister poisons her brother in order to remove the obstacle and marry whoever she wants. The ending of the ballad condemns the girl’s behavior. After the death of brother, Serbyn renounces the girl, not trusting her. In the song, the singer condemns the girl to extreme poverty for her act. Who is a Serbyn? This is a male Slavic name and surname that indicates a person’s origin. Just like Lytvyn (from Lithuania), Rusyn (from Rus’ - do not confuse with Russia, it did not exist then.) etc.. I found many references to people with this name in the Cossack era. Namely on Zaporozhzhia Sich. This is not surprising, because there were many different Slavs,