Koliadka [1] [2] [3] [a] are traditional songs usually sung in Eastern Slavic, Central European and Eastern European countries during the Christmas holiday season. It is believed that everything sung about will come true. [4]
Koliadka [1] [2] [3] [a] are traditional songs usually sung in Eastern Slavic, Central European and Eastern European countries during the Christmas holiday season. It is believed that everything sung about will come true. [4]
Koliadka have been sung since pre-Christian times in Kievan Rus'. Those songs were used with ritual purposes. In early times, koliadkas expressed ancient people's ideas about creation, natural phenomena, and the structure of the world. With the advent of Christianity, the content of koliadkas began to acquire the relevant religious meaning and features.
Now koliadkas are mostly Christmas carols, which tell of the birth of Jesus Christ and biblical stories that happened in connection with the event. Heathen roots are still there.
Serbians and Montenegrins sing koliadkas dedicated to Saint Nicholas in their churches. Slovaks, Czechs and sometimes Belarusians sing koliadkas not only on Saint Nicholas Day (which they celebrate on December 6), [5] but on Saint Stephen Day (December 26) too. [6]
Ukrainians sing koliadkas and schedrivkas on Saint Nicholas Day (December 6) and on Christmas Eve (December 24). [7] [8] There are other types of winter holidays ritual songs in Ukraine named schedrivkas and posivalkas. Traditionally, their purposes are clearly divided, [9] but in modern Ukrainian culture these concepts have intertwined, mixed and acquired traits of each other.[ citation needed ]
Koliadkas are also sung in countries where big diasporas are present,[ citation needed ] including Ukrainians which live in Canada. [10]
There are several koliadkas which are dedicated to Saint Nicholas in Ukraine. Among them: "Ой, хто, хто Миколая любить" ("Oh, who LovesSaintNicholas"), [11] "Ходить по землі Святий Миколай" ("Saint Nicholas Walks Around The World"), [12] "Миколай, Миколай ти до нас завітай!" (Nicholas, Nicholas, Come To Visit Us!). [13]
Ukrainian "Щедрик" ("Shchedryk"), known in English as "The Little Swallow", is a famous folk song that has pre-Christian roots. The song was arranged by the Ukrainian composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych in 1916. "Shchedryk" was later adapted as an English Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells", by popular American composer, educator, and choral conductor of Ukrainian ethnic origin Peter J. Wilhousky following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus at Carnegie Hall on October 5, 1921. Peter J. Wilhousky copyrighted and published his new lyrics (which were not based on the Ukrainian lyrics) in 1936.
Conceptually, Ukrainian lyrics of this song meets the definition of schedrivka (Malanka song) while English content of "Carol of the Bells" indicates it as koliadka (Christmas song).
On December 9, 2016, Georgian-born British singer Katie Melua and The Gori Women's Choir (which is conducted by Teona Tsiramua) sang original Ukrainian "Shchedryk" on BBC. [14]
A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French origin. Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the broader category of Christmas music.
Saint Nicholas Day, also called the "Feast of Saint Nicholas", observed on 6 December in Western Christian countries, and on 19 December in Eastern Christian countries using the old church Calendar, is the feast day of Saint Nicholas of Myra; it falls within the season of Advent. It is celebrated as a Christian festival with particular regard to Saint Nicholas' reputation as a bringer of gifts, as well as through the attendance of church services.
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"Shchedryk" is a Ukrainian shchedrivka, or New Year's song, known in English as "The Little Swallow". The song tells a story of a swallow flying into a household to sing of the wealth that will come with the following spring. "Shchedryk" was originally sung on the night of 13 January, New Year's Eve in the Julian Calendar, known in Ukraine as Malanka or Shchedry Vechir. The song is an example of a Ukrainian shchedrivka, whilst the English words of "The Little Swallow" identifies it as a koliadka.
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