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In twelve holy nights, the golden-faced God was born - the young Sun - Dazhbog, the silvery Yasn-Moon and the holy Goddess-Mother of Water Dana, which means that everything lives on earth. "The God Kolyada comes into the world with light and good, defeating evil and darkness. In the Christmas of the sun, Kolyada is a festival of the light of Dazhbog, a great festival of Life, a festival of Ancestors, a festival of Happiness and Freedom. Everything on earth: man, all plant and animal life they honor the god Kolyada, the guardian of the young Bozhich-Sun, meeting the birth of the light of Dazhbozhie with the Holy Supper, Holy Thoughts and the Holy Unity of Souls.
In addition, in pre-Christian times, such events required a certain sacrifice. In ancient times, when human sacrifices had already been abandoned, it was necessary to sacrifice what was valuable to God. And cattle were valuable at that time. And thus we proceed to the rite of "driving the goat". That is, cattle were sacrificed, which was then replaced by baking cookies in the form of Christmas cattle. Why in ancient times carolers were associated with the afterlife At this time, the border between the worlds becomes so thin that there is a transition between them. It is also connected with honoring the dead. On the one hand, the dead were treated with tremendous respect and honor, as if they welcomed this transition. On the other hand, it is a little scary. We had to somehow protect ourselves from them.
The carolers must have had the sun in their hands. They made it from old rims and decorated it with colorful ribbons. In Ukraine and Belarus, there were also such customs: shderivka - a kind of carols. They were also song requests for a fruitful, bountiful year.