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Currently, winter in Ukraine is primarily associated with carols, which are sung on the holiday of Christmas (January 6-8 according to the new style). But carols were once pagan songs, against which the Orthodox Church initially waged an unsuccessful struggle and banned them. However, Kolyada rites proved to be very stable in Ukraine, marked in many ways by the features of pagan beliefs, reminiscent of both honoring the newborn sun and the cult of ancestors.
One figure could represent death. Her face was smeared with flour, teeth were inserted from turnips, she was wrapped in a sheet, she was a silent figure. And no one wanted to play just this figure. And she was chosen by lot. She was completely static - she was started, put on the bench and she did not have to do anything. In addition, there were "other" categories in relation to the sacred world. For example, a blacksmith. Blacksmithing has long been considered a very sacred profession.
Why carolers dress up as animals, foreigners and otherworldly creatures According to the idea of ancient people, the other world is, as it were, this world turned upside down. And accordingly, the representatives of that world are the same as us, but a little different. And accordingly, the carolers changed their clothes according to categories - "alien", otherworldly. It could not be a person, but an animal, that's how those animal images appeared in groups of carolers. It could be "strangers" by category - foreigner, that's how we have, for example, "German". These may not be people, but in general – demonic beings, so the carolers wrapped their hands with straw, stood on stilts or, conversely, squatted down, spoke in very deep, low voices, or, on the contrary, very squeaky.
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