Аркан – Arkan – heroic warriors dance of Ukrainian hutsuls (instrumental)

8qa7X-NlNx4 Not a dance video despite the name…there are some interesting images shown under the song. The knife is particularly interesting.

Cold steel to sokyra update

I did a little more work on my converted Cold Steel Norse tomahawk…it felt nice but was just a bit too heavy so I worked on grinding the head into a lighter more historically accurate shape. After a few hours of constant grinding and quenching , I can honestly say I am overjoyed at the [...]

Another axe dance

Another great axe dance fromt he troope in Arizona with Harnas Dragoslav at the head! These guys have been getting better with every clip I see from them..an inspiration to all us axe swingers out there!

Blocking with the poll

Soe just what is the poll you may ask? The poll is the butt or back end of your axe head. A good reference site to keep handy for names of axe parts weapon or tool is the Gransfors site. So now that we know what a poll is why do we want to use [...]

Shchastlyvyj Novyj Rok!

Happy New year… in Rusyn: Shchastlyvyj Novyj Rok! Slovak: šastný nový rok Magyar: Boldog uj evet Romanian: La Multi Ani si Un An Nou Fericit Polish: Szczesliwego Nowego Roku    

The plague swarm 1890

Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources by A. H. Wratislaw The Plague Swarm [1890] A RUTHENIAN, having lost his wife and children by the plague, fled into the forest from his desolate cottage and sought safety there. He wandered about all day long; towards evening he constructed a booth of branches, lit a little fire, [...]

Singlehanded thrust

Here is a short clip of me performing a single handed thrust using the mountain axe. First off a pass forward, then a pass backward.

Vertical Figure Eights

Some vertical figure eights done with the mountain axe held in one hand. This comes directly from Rusyn dance but rather than jump over the axe head when it passes low I withdraw the leg back as one would do in saber fencing. I really need to retake this clip using the shorter Rusyn style [...]

The Invisible Axe

The axe played an large an interesting role among the foresters of the western Ukraine known as the Hutsuls or Trans-Carpathian Rusyns. One interesting piece of folklore is about the sound of a phantom axe. An icident of this myth can be seen in the classic Soviet era film “Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors” where [...]

Southwest Vatra 2008

The first annual Southwest Vatra took place on the weekend of June 20th. Harnas Dragoslav gave a presentation on the gear and lore of the highland brigand. We will be adding a transcript of this to the site very soon. Below is the offical logo for the event with original artwork by our own Harnas [...]