The buhai (berbenytsia, buka) is a kind of friction drum: a hide is stretched over a tub or an open cylinder, with a tuft of horsehair threaded through it. The player wets the fingers and draws them along the hair — and the instrument answers with a low, powerful roar that truly resembles the bellow of a bull (hence the name).
The buhai is an indispensable participant in Ukrainian winter rites, above all Malanka and the carol-singing: its rumble accompanies the bands of mummers, lending the festival a primal, almost pagan power. Together with the frame drum, fiddle, and tsymbaly, the buhai creates the characteristic sound of the Carpathian and Podillia ritual ensemble. It is one of the most archaic and most colourful instruments of the Ukrainian folk tradition.
