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.
In Ukraine under the Soviet rule, organized public singing of koliadkas (vertep) on Christmas Eve was persecuted by authorities, so it frequently took place on the night before the New Year instead. In some cases people taking part in such events would be arrested by the KGB for "hooliganism". Especially notable were the mass arrests which took place on 1 January 1972 and targeted participants of a festive procession accompanied by koliadka singing, which took place in central Lviv and was led by Ihor and Iryna Kalynets. [5]
Despite repression, the traditions of koliadka and vertep survived both among the rural and urban population in Western Ukraine, and in 1986 reached the local theatre scene. Koliadka performances even spread to Soviet prison camps, where many Ukrainian dissidents were held at the time. Among others, Myroslav Marynovych organized the singing of koliadkas with fellow inmates after his imprisonment in 1978. Starting from 1988, koliadka singing and vertep performances in Lviv were official permitted by authorities through the efforts of Lion's Society, although some elements of the processions, such as figures of angels, were still banned by the Communist regime. Starting from the 1990s the tradition of koliadka and vertep theatre has also seen a revival in other regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv. [5]
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), [6] but on Saint Stephen Day (December 26) too. [7]
Ukrainians sing koliadkas and schedrivkas on Saint Nicholas Day (December 6) and on Christmas Eve (December 24). [8] [9] There are other types of winter holidays ritual songs in Ukraine named schedrivkas and posivalkas. Traditionally, their purposes are clearly divided, [10] 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. [11]
There are several koliadkas which are dedicated to Saint Nicholas in Ukraine. Among them: "Ой, хто, хто Миколая любить" ("Oh, who LovesSaintNicholas"), [12] "Ходить по землі Святий Миколай" ("Saint Nicholas Walks Around The World"), [13] "Миколай, Миколай ти до нас завітай!" (Nicholas, Nicholas, Come To Visit Us!). [14]
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. [15]