тгреадс згырджаж 2 633 гелп

 

The group of winter calendar songs consists of carols and Christmas songs. These are majestic songs of Ukrainian farmers, related to the Proto-Slavic cult of the Sun. The ancestors of Ukrainians celebrated three phases of the sun - spring equinox, summer and winter solstice. The New Year began for the ancient Slavs from the vernal equinox (as, after all, in other European nations). Only later, the celebration of the beginning of the new year was moved to the time of the winter solstice (somewhere from the 14th century). There is a hypothesis that the very name of the holiday - "carol" - and the songs - "carols" comes from the name of the New Year in Ancient Rome (Calendae lanuarie), which indicates close contacts of Ukrainian-Slavic culture with Greco-Roman in pre-Christian times. In Ukrainian folklore, a peculiar "memory" of the spring New Year's ritual is the spring theme of many carols and Christmas carols. For example, F. Koless believes that the authentic name of the winter majestic songs in Ukrainian territory was actually "carols". Already in the 19th century, significant differences between carols and Christmas carols in terms of subject matter actually disappeared (V. Hnatiuk).

A week after Christmas Eve, on December 31 (January 13), the Generous Evening was celebrated (the day of the Christian saint Reverend Melania). This day was also called Melanka. According to tradition, the celebration was accompanied by going round the houses to wish people happiness, health and well-being in the New Year. They were also generous with theatrical groups: "Melanka" and "Vasyl" and "Ryazheni". If you compare Christmas carols and Christmas carols ("Chedryk, Chedryk, Chedryvochka, a swallow has flown in"), then the swallows, spring, sowing of rye are mentioned in the carols. This indicates that the ancient Slavs celebrated the beginning of the New Year in the spring.

From the beginning, these groups were all male, given that this ritual involves contact with death. Accordingly, women did not participate in it. We can already see how children and women carol. In fact, only men could do it. But, considering that this holiday is combined with the sun, the groups could not walk around the village chaotically. They followed the sun, and if it was a mountainous area, for example, the Carpathians, then they walked from below in a circle, climbing and going around each house. If the carolers did not enter a house, it means that a dead person's foot could be there, and this was a bad sign and they were very offended.