Carols or holiday Carols have been celebrated and celebrated since ancient times, it was given great importance. Absolutely all people sang, danced, feasted, rejoiced and had fun.
Bit of history
The famous holiday is named after the great god Kolyada, for the Slavic people it was one of the main ones. The historical records say that he gave mankind a calendar, and they learned how to use dates. This god helped many ordinary people, farmers, warriors, protecting everyone from death. On many images you can see Kolyada with a sword, but he was not belligerent: the blade of his weapon was striving down to the ground. He tried to convey to many that he should not constantly fight, everything can be decided according to the laws established above. Indeed, in life there are other important activities.
The emergence of a great holiday
Another name is the holiday of Kolyada: Day of Change or Menari. There is a story that in ancient times people fell into the realm of death. After spending some time there, they were released. In order that evil spirits could not imprison them back, they began to pay off various sweets, all kinds of objects. Relatives met them with fun, songs and festivities. Since then, people began to celebrate this important day every year, which later became known as Kolyada.
The significance of the celebration of Kolyada for the Slavic people
The holiday of Kolyada was considered the main event in the winter time among the village people. Held it from December to January, starting from the 22nd day until 7, until the day of Christmas. The great people of the Slavs celebrated it more than one day. All residents began preparations much earlier than the grand event. The hostesses put the house in order, cleaned and removed all the garbage, washed all the items, tried to put everything beautiful and elegant in appearance. Young guys and girls sewed interesting and mysterious outfits, made masks. The day before the start, it was necessary to go to the bathhouse and wash away all the dirt so that on a holy holiday it would be bright and clean. They took out and put on the most beautiful clothes and commemorated the departed people. Kolyada holiday among the Slavs was one of the main, no one dared to miss it for any reason.
The celebration of Kolyada is associated with the Great Solstice, when all the people come out of winter darkness and the day becomes longer than night. Thus, people show their joy that spring will come soon, the sowing season will begin. They all thank God for everything that he gives them: the sun, water, a large crop, healthy and cattle. Nobody forgot about the Kolyada holiday, everyone was looking forward to it.
Sequence
The celebration of Kolyada begins with laying a large table. First lay the straw. This serves as a symbol for the favorable development of cows, for getting good and tasty milk so that animals are not eaten by predators. After that, a festive tablecloth is served and various dishes are served.
First of all, you need to taste kutya (porridge), leave a few grains in a plate. After the meal, you need to throw them under the ceiling. This was a fortune telling about the high productivity and rapid growth of domestic animals (cows, sheep, chickens and others). The remnants of porridge were collected and fed chickens in the yard, so that on this day they would be fully saturated and lay many eggs. Straw was taken to the shed to animals, thereby protecting them from all sorts of diseases so that livestock would bring offspring. Thus ended the first day of the holiday of Kolyada.
Continuation
The second day began with the return of debts, statements of all insults. Then it was necessary to immediately make peace and forgive each other for everything. Young that day wore animal costumes and walked around the village with loud and sonorous songs, wished everyone good health, a large harvest, less disease and grief. In turn, the people whose wishes sounded in the courtyards should have given sweets to the singers. When all the bags were full of goodies, the youth went to some house. There they continued to celebrate, had fun and ate guests. The celebration of Kolyada lasted a whole week, everyone had fun before the hard work began.
Festivities
Since ancient times, the holiday of Kolyada among the Slavs has been magic. At this time, all the most mysterious, mysterious and inexplicable occurs. People have many beliefs on how to attract happiness, luck, health, family well-being. For unmarried girls, fortune telling was another entertainment. They found out whether a young husband would appear this year, what kind of character he would have, his appearance (hair color, physique). Sometimes even guys wondered, but this is a rarer occurrence, although everyone is interested in knowing their future.
The celebration of Kolyada mostly takes place on the street. All the villagers leave their houses, make bonfires and dance around it, singing loud and sonorous songs. Almost all day is spent in fun, and young and old sledding, harnessing horses. The children run around with bags, collecting sweet treats and shouting various verses about the holiday of Kolyada. These days no one is sad because people believe that if they rejoice at the great god Kolyada, he will take care of their harvest, livestock, delicious food and drinks will be on the table all year.
An ancient holiday in modern life
Today, a great holiday is a thing of the past, all traditions are forgotten, in the modern metropolis, many do not even know that there is such a winter period of time when people carol. Only in villages do residents try not to forget the Kolyada festival and have fun as before.
In order for the great triumph not to disappear after a while, today many places where Kolyada is popularized. The holiday script helps to get acquainted with all the subtleties of village life. It is carried out in kindergartens, schools, higher educational institutions. Ancient traditions are taken as a basis and something new is added, to which they are already accustomed. So people get acquainted with the traditions of the great Slavic people. Now the description of the Kolyada holiday has changed; in ancient times, customs were a little different.
How to celebrate Kolyada?
The celebration of Kolyada, the holiday scenario in Russian, can be found in large numbers and they all differ slightly. But the essence remains the same - it's caroling in the neighbors.
To conduct it is necessary to recruit several participants who must receive in advance a leaflet with the name Kolyada, a holiday script, where there is a detailed description. Having learned all the words of poems, songs, begin to have fun. You can learn several dance moves, this will be a huge plus.
- All participants put on costumes (prepared in advance) and go around the guests. A cheerful song should sound loud and loud in front of the house so that everyone understands that people have come to carol.
- Then the action takes place in the hut (house). Caroling participants begin to praise the owners, wish them well, great success, and good health. All this in song form.
- Then a negative character appears who is trying to ruin, ruin the celebration. For his disappearance, you need to conduct a game in which good conquers evil. At the holiday again fun, joy, laughter.
- After all the games, the owners give carols carols with sweets and thank you for your congratulations. In response, the songs sound again and everyone disperses.
- Sometimes the action ends with a tea party with guests.
You can celebrate from December 22 to January 7, choosing any day. In the modern world, the celebration of Kolyada takes place in one day. Fun begins in the afternoon, everyone sings and dances, recites poems and ditties, holds feasts, laying a generous and rich table, treats neighbors. At night, something interesting begins. Youth goes home and carols. In turn, the owner of the house should treat guests with something. If he refuses and drives away caroling people, they can be upset and spoil something, pick up a chicken from the yard or a bowl. This is considered a punishment for a host who does not honor ancient traditions.
Where are the sources of information?
If you want to know a lot of details, information about the Kolyada holiday is stored in the experience of grandmothers. They clearly remember all the fun. Older people will tell in detail what songs they sang in their times, what was customary to treat and what games they played.
It is always useful to read a little about this interesting and fun holiday of Kolyada. And spend it annually, thereby telling the children about the ancient history in a comic and fun way. Another plus is the development of children in the physical plane. They will participate in fast moving games. In addition to everything, you can play outdoors. Children and adults can have fun at the Kolyada festival.