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Koliadka

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M. Germashev. «With a Star». 1916

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

The history of koliadka

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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 phenomena 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

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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 [uk] from Saint Nicholas Day (December 6) until the holiday of baptism of Jesus (January 6).[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 often sung in countries where big diasporas are present,[citation needed] including Ukrainians which live in Canada.[10]

Koliadkas which are dedicated to saints

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There are several koliadkas which are dedicated to Saint Nicholas in Ukraine. Among them: "Ой, хто, хто Миколая любить" ("Oh, who Loves Saint Nicholas"),[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]

"The Little Swallow"

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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]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Entry Display Web Page".
  2. ^ "Koliadky in the 21st Century – Razom".
  3. ^ https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/23834/file.pdf [bare URL 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. ^ "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.
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ 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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