Kolyadka


Kolyadka are traditional songs usually sung in Eastern Slavic, Central Europe and Eastern Europe countries during the Christmas holiday season which is typically between January 7 and 14. At the same time Ukrainians sing kolyadkas and between December 19 and January 19. Catholic Christians and Protestants living in these countries sing kolyadkas on and near Christmas Eve. It is believed that everything sung about will come true.
Singing Kolyadkas is a very common tradition in modern Ukraine. Additionally Kolyadkas are often sung in countries where big diasporas are present, including Ukrainians which live in Canada.

The history of kolyadka

Kolyadka have been used since pre-Christian times in Ukraine. Those songs were used with ritual purposes. First kolyadkas described ancient people's ideas about creation, natural phenomenons and structure of the world. With the advent of Christianity content of kolyadkas began to acquire the relevant religious meaning and features.
Thus now kolyadkas 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.
Ukrainians sing kolyadkas and schedrivkas from the holiday of Saint Mykolay or Saint Nicholas Day till the holiday of baptism of Jesus.
There are other types of winter holidays ritual songs except kolyadkas in Ukraine, named schedrivkas and zasivalkas. In fact their purposes are clearly divided. But in modern Ukrainian culture these concepts are intertwined, mixed and acquired traits of each other.

Kolyadkas which are dedicated to saints

There are several kolyadkas which are dedicated to Saint Mykolay in Ukraine. Among them: "Ой, хто, хто Миколая любить", "Ходить по землі Святий Миколай", "Миколай, Миколай ти до нас завітай!".
Serbians and Montenegrins sing kolyadkas dedicated to Saint Nicholas in their churches. Slovaks, Czechs and sometimes Belarusians sing kolyadkas not only on Saint Nicholas Day, but on Saint Stephen Day too.

"The Little Swallow"

One of the most popular kolyadka in the world is Ukrainian "Щедрик", 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 in 1936.
Conceptually Ukrainian lyrics of this song meets the definition of schedrivka while English content of "Carol of the Bells" indicates it as kolyadka or Christmas carol in other words.
On December 9, 2016, Georgian-born British singer Katie Melua and The Gori Women's Choir sang original Ukrainian "Shchedryk" on BBC.