Kolenda

Koliada or koleda (Cyrillic: коляда, коледа, колада, коледе) is the traditional Slavic name for the period from Christmas to Epiphany or, more generally, to Slavic Christmas-related rituals, some dating to pre-Christian times. It represents a festival or holiday, celebrated at the end of December to honor the sun during the winter solstice. It also involves groups of singers who visit houses to sing carols.

Terminology

The word is still used in modern Ukrainian ("Коляда", Koliadá), Belarusian (''Каляда'', Kalada, Kaliada), Polish (Szczodre Gody ''kolęda'' ), Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian (''Коледа, Коледе, koleda, kolenda''), Lithuanian (''Kalėdos, Kalėda''), Czech, Slovak, Slovene (''koleda'') and Romanian (''Colindă'').

The word used in Old Church Slavonic language (Колѧда - Kolęnda) sounds closest to the current Polish language pronunciation, as Polish is one of two Slavic languages which retains the nasal vowels of the Proto-Slavic language (the other is closely related Kashubian). One theory states that Koliada is the name of a cycle of winter rituals stemming from the ancient ''calendae''Encyclopedia of Ukraine
/ref> as for example the Kalenda Proclamation.

In modern Belarusian , Ukrainian (koliada), Czech, Slovak, Croatian (koleda, kolenda), Kashubian (''kòlãda'' wɛlãda and Polish (''kolęda'' , Old Polish ''kolenda'') the meaning has shifted from Christmas itself to denoting the tradition of strolling, singing, and having fun on Christmas Eve, same in the Balkan Slavs. It specifically applies to children and teens who walk house to house greeting people, singing and sifting grain that denotes the best wishes and receiving candy and small money in return. The action is called kolyadovanye () in Russian, kolyaduvannya (Ukrainian колядування) in Ukrainian and is now applied to similar Old East Slavic celebrations of other old significant holidays, such as '' Generous Eve'' (russian: Маланья, Щедрый вечер, be, Шчодры вечар, uk, Щедрий вечiр) the evening before New Year's Day, as well as the celebration of the arrival of spring. Similarly in Bulgaria and North Macedonia, in the tradition of koleduvane (коледуване) or koledarenje (коледарење) around Christmas, groups of children visiting houses, singing carols and receiving a gift at parting. The kids are called 'koledari' or rarely 'kolezhdani' who sing kolyadki (songs).

Koleda is also celebrated across northern Greece by the Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia, in areas from Florina to Thessaloniki, where it is called Koleda (Κόλιντα, Κόλιαντα) or Koleda Babo (Κόλιντα Μπάμπω) which means "Koleda Grandmother" in Slavic. It is celebrated before Christmas by gathering in the village square and lighting a bonfire, followed by local Macedonian music and dancing.

Croatian composer Jakov Gotovac wrote in 1925 the composition "Koleda", which he called a "folk rite in five parts", for male choir and small orchestra (3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, timpani and drum). Also, Dubrovnik kolenda is one of the oldest recorded traditions of this kind in Croatia (its first mentioned in 13th century). There is also a dance from Dubrovnik called "The Dubrovnik Koleda."

See also

* Colindă, a similar Romanian/Moldovan tradition
* Korochun
* Crăciun (disambiguation)
* Twelfth Night (holiday)
* Yule
* Christmas carol
**List of Christmas carols
* Kolyadka
* Koledovanie
* Turoń
* Koleda (Koledovanie) in the Serbian tradition
* Kalenda Proclamation
* Shchedryk (song)
* Calennig
* Christmas Waits
* Beltane, Gaelic festival in honour of the sun

References

{{Slavic holidays, state=collapsed
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Slavic culture
Slavic holidays
Folk calendar of the East Slavs
Belarusian traditions
Bulgarian traditions
Czech traditions
Polish traditions
Russian traditions
Serbian traditions
Slovak traditions
Ukrainian traditions
Slavic Christmas traditions