The beverage should be prepared in a cheerful state of mind. A snack including baked potatoes on “hran’” (“hran’” – dialectal, meaning “coal”, “heat”) and bread with lard must be at hand. If an acquaintance or a stranger walk past the host’s house, it is his duty to invite them in and treat them to slyvovytsia, which has just leaked out from the spout.

The beverage is stored in a glass ewer, closed tightly with a wooden cork. The edges are sealed with melted wax. Every respectable host ties a red ribbon to the neck of the ewer to protect it from the evil eye. Normally, the slyvovytsia is kept in a dark place. However, for longer preservation, it can be buried in the ground to a depth of 1 metre.

No holiday or wedding in Novoselytsia is celebrated without slyvovytsia. People say that if it is not on the table, the host is either poor or stingy. Some locals drink only slyvovytsia as a matter of principle because it keeps them warm and cheerful.

The project was implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation

The project was implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation

Communal Institution «Regional Organizational and Methodical Center of Culture» of Zakarpattia Oblast Council

Communal Institution «Regional Organizational and Methodical Center of Culture» of Zakarpattia Oblast Council

Online HUB ICH of Transcarpathia, 2019
© All rights reserved

The project was implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation

The project was implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation

Online HUB ICH of Transcarpathia , 2019 



he picturesque village of Novoselytsia is situated in a mountainous area in the south-eastern part of the Huta range. Here you can find an old wooden church from the 15th century built without a single nail, a beautiful ethnographic museum preserving a record of the past of the Zatysiansky region, and the highest peak of the Vynogradovo region, the mountain called Frasyn. Tourists are also attracted by homemade vodka, slyvovytsia. This beverage is made by double distillation. The plums are first pitted and then left to undergo a thorough fermentation. The used varieties include damson plum, kobylytsia, margita and cherry plum.

All visitors not only have the chance to see the ancestral process of producing slyvovytsia with their own eyes, but also to sample it. Local hosts point out that consuming organic and natural products is the key to health and longevity. It is also said that slyvovytsia is a remedy for all illnesses: small portions of slyvovytsia are beneficial for the digestive system, the tinctures on medicinal plants (marigold, St. John’s wort, thyme, elderberry, walnut) are useful for arrhythmia and dental problems, while compresses made of slyvovytsia will be excellent for arthritis pain relief.





Novoselytsia is a village in Vynohradovo region

Population: 1450 inhabitants.

Coordinates: 48° 7′ 46″ N 23° 13′ 33″ E

Distances: Kyiv – 837 km • Lviv – 295 km • Uzhhorod – 112 km • Budapesht –360

The first written mention: 1619.

Website: https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Новоселиця_(Виноградівський_район)

Communal Institution «Regional Organizational and Methodical Center of Culture» of Zakarpattia Oblast Council

Communal Institution «Regional Organizational and Methodical Center of Culture» of Zakarpattia Oblast Council

© All rights reserved