#Kolyada

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Kolyada (an ancient Slavic pagan holiday in honor of the birth of the sun) by Iren Horrors

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[marysmirages]

Kolyada (2024)

[madcat-world]

Mummers - IrenHorrors

[vintage-ukraine]

Carolers by Alla Honcharuk, 1986

[smertgorim]

I still don't know how to render, but I need to talk about it. ZZZ is, for me, the best game from these developers at the moment.

Even before the release, I bought into Kolyada, (yes, red hair, one eye, a grin. I have a type) but in the end we are at the “choke me android” station.

[evenster]

Kolyada is a pagan Russian tradition. At Christmas time, people put on scary masks, walked around the villages, sang and collected treats.

[legatouwu]

was in museum today :]]]

[snegt]

Oh, we come from a faraway land! From under the heaven itself!

Will you let us in?

[emenayuqa]

For Kolyada...painted last winter but forgot to post😓

[horpyna]

the song is called "Щедрик(Shchedryk)" which comes from the word "щедрий", "generous" in ukrainian. It is a song from the canlendar cycle. It is not about Jesus's birth because it's a song for a completely different purpose. Ukrainians would walk from home to home and sing this songs called "щедрівки (shchedryvkas)" to wish luck, wealth, good harvests and prosperity to the owners. This process (or a ritual if you will) is called "щедрування(shchedruvannya)".

The original song very much goes about a swallow, that wishes more money and goods to the owners of the household, pointing out the fine lambs that were born in their flock.

The song is now associated with Christmas across the world, but shchdryvkas (thus Shchedryk) are usually sung for New Year, in the evening of the December 31 (January 12 old style). This evening is called "Щедрий вечір(Shchedryi vechir)" – literally translated as "the Generouse evening", or Silvester. It's festive and theatrical.

Shchedruvannya live looks like this:

For Christmas, there is a different kind of the calendar cycle songs – "колядки(kolyadkas)". Those are explicitly about Jesus's birth, Mother Mary, Three Kings and The Beacon. The name itself originetes from the pagan fest "Коляда(Kolyada)", which celebrated the birth of the God of the New Sun. The Goddess Kolyada would give birth to the New Sun, after the Old Sun ends it's cycle on the day of Winter Solstice. Kolyadkas would essentially praise the Goddess and her newborn son. After the Christianisation, kolyadkas morphed to praise mother Mary and Jesus Christ, but the name remained unchanged.

Kolyadkas are also sung for households by local youth, "колядники(the kolyadnyks)". The kolyadnyks would go from home to home and sing kolyadkas in exchange for sweets, backed goods, money or other items. The whole process is called "колядування (kolyaduvannya)". They are dressed festivly, carrying a gloving beacon and small verteps (nativity scene).

Kolyadkas are sung in the evening of the December 24 (January 6 old style). This evening is called "Святвечір(Svyatvechir)" or "Святий вечір (Svyatyi vechir)", which is translated literally as the Saint Evening, or Christmas Eve.

(Though they ask for goods during "щедрування(shchedruvannya)" as well. Sometimes this request are directly in the lyrics or the shchedryvkas. Ukrainians have this joke "Turn off the lights, the kolyadnyks/shchedruvalnyks are coming!")

Here is how it looks nowadays.

Shchedryk itself is a folk sond, arranged by the ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych. Thus the music of the Carol of the Bells is also his. It is an important piece of ukrainian art, as Leontovych himself was murdered in cold blood by the undercover NKVD agent in the wave of repressions against the ukrainian artistic intelligentsia. He pretended to be a passerby who needed a shelter, and Leontovych let him in to stay overnight. NKVD agent shot him in his sleep. All his compositions were destroyed. The fact that Shchedryk survived is a miracle. People began to acknowledge Leontovych as the original author of the music only in the recent years.

In the US Shchedryk was adapted as an English Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells", by american composer Peter J. Wilhousky, in 1936. But earlier the original Shchedryk was performed abroad by Alexander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus.

Here is Schchedryk's literal translation to English:

And here are the kolyadkas, unfortunately in ukrainian only:

Only good thing about Christmas time is I get to hear carol of the bells all the time but the bad part is I have to act normal like that song doesn’t go hard as fuck

[charybdisrevenge]

Veronika Kolyada

[dreamyeyes26]

I suddenly remembered that I miss Mikhail Kolyada skating ;_;

[figureskatingcostumes]

A balletic Mikhail Kolyada skating to The White Crow at the 2022 Russian Nationals.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[petitmimosa]

Misha Kolyada now coaching in China was not on my bingo card but alright...

[vintage-ukraine]

Kolyada by Viktor Zaretsky, 1987

[russianfigureskatinghell]

He's been one of my fav male russian skaters (him & Mozalev), so I'm actually so happy for him!!! I hope things go great and that his students get great results!!