Koliadka

Koliadka[1][2][3] (Ukrainian: колядка, Czech: koleda, Bulgarian: коледарска песен, Romanian: colindă) 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]

M. Germashev. «With a Star». 1916

The history of koliadka
See also: Christmas in Ukraine

Koliadka have been used since pre-Christian times in Kievan Rus'. Those songs were used with ritual purposes. First koliadkas described ancient people's ideas about creation, natural phenomenons and structure of the world. With the advent of Christianity content of koliadkas began to acquire the relevant religious meaning and features.

Thus now koliadkas are mostly Christmas carols which describe the birth of Jesus Christ and biblical stories happened in connection with the event. However heathen roots are still there.

In modern culture

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 schedrivkasuk from the holiday of Saint Mykolay or Saint Nicholas Day (December 19) till the holiday of baptism of Jesus (January 19).[7][8] There are other types of winter holidays ritual songs except koliadkas in Ukraine, named schedrivkas and zasivalkas. In fact their purposes are clearly divided.[9] In modern Ukrainian culture these concepts are intertwined, mixed and acquired traits of each other.

Koliadkas are often sung in countries where big diasporas are present, including Ukrainians which live in Canada (1 251 170 persons[10]).[11]

Koliadkas which are dedicated to saints

There are several koliadkas which are dedicated to Saint Mykolai in Ukraine. Among them: "Ой, хто, хто Миколая любить" ("Who Loves Saint Nicholas"),[12] "Ходить по землі Святий Миколай" ("Saint Mykolai Walks Around The World"),[13] "Миколай, Миколай ти до нас завітай!" (Mykolai, Mykolai, Come To Visit Us!).[14]

"The Little Swallow"

One of the most popular koliadka (schedrivka) in the world is Ukrainian "Щедрик" ("Shchedryk"), known in English as "The Little Swallow". This carol has pre-Christian roots. Folk song was arranged by 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 extraction 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 actually were not based on the Ukrainian lyrics) in 1936.

Conceptually Ukrainian lyrics of this song meets the definition of schedrivka while English content of "Carol of the Bells" indicates it as koliadka or Christmas carol in other words.

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]

See also

References
  1. "Entry Display Web Page".
  2. "Koliadky in the 21st Century – Razom".
  3. https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/23834/file.pdf
  4. "::Best of Ukraine ::Holidays in Ukraine". Retrieved 2007-05-08.
  5. JPC-DESIGN, whychristmas?com /. "Christmas in Slovakia on whychristmas?com". www.whychristmas.com. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  6. "26 Декабря - Святого Стефана - праздники Чехии от Megatour.cz". www.megatour.cz (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  7. MsUpucka (2013-12-19), Євромайдан. Діти співають колядки на Миколая., archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2017-01-26
  8. "Щедрівки та віншування на Водохреща (відео) – Золочів.нет". zolochiv.net (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  9. "Топ-10 українських засівалок на свято Василя (14 січня)". Щастя-Здоровля (in Ukrainian). 2017-01-13. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  10. Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics (8 May 2013). "unknown". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2017-01-26. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. "Ukrainian Folk Music Canada Toronto Christmas Song Band Homerlas - Music Host". www.musichost.me. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  12. Zakharii (2012-04-10), Ой Хто Хто Миколая любить (Who loves St. Nicholas) - Ukrainian Christmas carol, archived from the original on 2013-12-21, retrieved 2017-01-26
  13. Zakharii (2014-01-02), Ходить по землі Святий Миколай (Sviatyj Mykolaj) - Ukrainian song, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2017-01-26
  14. Zakharii (2013-12-15), Миколай, Миколай ти до нас завітай! -- Ukrainian song "St. Nicholas", archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2017-01-26
  15. Christmas Music Videos (2016-12-17), Katie Melua & The Gori Women's Choir - The Little Swallow (Ukrainian language of Carol of the Bells), archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2017-01-26
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