Koliadka ( uk, колядка, cz, koleda, bg, коледарска песен, ro,

colindă A colindă (pl. colinde; also colind, pl. colinduri) is a traditional Christmas carol in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Origins Although the text of all ''colinde'' is concerned with the events of the Nativity, certain elements of the fol ...

) are traditional

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

s usually sung in Eastern Slavic, Central European and

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

countries during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

holiday season. It is believed that everything sung about will come true.

The history of koliadka

Koliadka have been used since pre-Christian times in

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

. 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 The term Serbians in English is a polysemic word, with two distinctive meanings, derived from morphological differences: * Morphology 1: Serb-ian- s, derived from the noun ''Serb'' and used interchangeably to refer to ethnic Serbs, thus having ...

and

Montenegrins Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Genetics Accordin ...

sing koliadkas dedicated to Saint Nicholas in their churches.

Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...

and sometimes

Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...

sing koliadkas not only on Saint Nicholas Day (which they celebrate on December 6), but on Saint Stephen Day (December 26) too. Ukrainians sing koliadkas and from the holiday of Saint Mykolay or Saint Nicholas Day (December 19) till the holiday of baptism of Jesus (January 19). There are other types of winter holidays ritual songs except koliadkas in Ukraine, named schedrivkas and zasivalkas. In fact their purposes are clearly divided. 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).

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''"), "Ходить по землі Святий Миколай" ("''Saint Mykolai Walks Around The World''"), "Миколай, Миколай ти до нас завітай!" (''Mykolai, Mykolai, Come To Visit Us!'').

"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 A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and teacher

Mykola Leontovych Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (23 January 1921; ua, Микола Дмитрович Леонтович, link=no (); also Leontovich) was a Ukrainian composer, conductor, ethnomusicologist and teacher. His music was inspired by the Ukrainian ...

in 1916. "Shchedryk" was later adapted as an English

Christmas carol 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 holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

, "

Carol of the Bells "Carol of the Bells" is a popular Christmas carol, with music by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914 and lyrics by Peter J. Wilhousky. The song is based on the Ukrainian folk chant " Shchedryk". The music is in the public domain; Wil ...

", by popular American composer, educator, and choral conductor of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

ethnic extraction Peter J. Wilhousky following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz's

Ukrainian National Chorus The Ukrainian Republic Capella (later known as the Ukrainian National Chorus) was a musical company during and after World War I which toured Europe and North America with the intent to promote Ukrainian culture abroad. The main sponsor of the Cap ...

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

on October 5, 1921. Peter J. Wilhousky copyrighted and published his new

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

(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 "

" indicates it as koliadka or Christmas carol in other words. On December 9, 2016, Georgian-born British singer

Katie Melua Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of comp ...

and

The Gori Women's Choir ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

(which is conducted by

Teona Tsiramua Teona (foaled 13 March 2018) is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. She showed promise as a two-year-old in 2020 when she won the second of her two races by nine lengths. In the following spring she ran disappointingly in the ...

) sang original Ukrainian "Shchedryk" on

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

References

Ukrainian culture Czech culture Slovak culture Ukrainian-Canadian culture Slavic culture Russian folk songs Belarusian folk songs Ukrainian folk songs Slavic Christmas traditions

The history of koliadka

In modern culture

Koliadkas which are dedicated to saints

"The Little Swallow"

See also

References