NEW RELEASE: Koliady from Ukraine (12/10/00)

NEW RELEASE: Koliady from Ukraine

by Marta Baczynsky

NEW YORK - The aim of The Ukrainian Museum is to preserve the attributes of the cultural heritage of Ukrainian Americans. Our holiday traditions are greatly treasured and passed on from generation to generation. They are rich in rituals, in music, and in the spiritual celebrations of our faith. This continuity is exhibited in many ways, most recently in a new musical and vocal arrangement of Ukrainian Christmas carols from Ukraine titled "Ukrainian Christmas", which is available at the Museum Gift Shop. This most beautifully executed presentation of carols on CD and cassette, was recorded by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine with the Kyiv Chamber Choir.

The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine was founded in 1918 and is presently under the direction of the accomplished conductor Volodymyr Sirenko. It has performed throughout Europe, and recorded national and international symphonic compositions from baroque to contemporary avant-garde.

The Kyiv Chamber Choir under the direction of Mykola Hobdych, was founded in 1990 and is composed of professional singers. The choir has performed in the United States and in most countries of Europe. Its repertoire consists of medieval, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and modern music.

Caroling - one of the most beautiful traditions in the Ukrainian cultural treasury - is an inherent part of the Christmas celebrations, although carols, or "koliady," originated a long time before Christianity came to Ukraine. Like many other traditions that have survived from antiquity, these songs voiced the concerns of an agrarian community, referring in verse and music to nature and its bounty, to family and relationships between people. Many of the ancient carols were preserved to this day and remain in the contemporary Ukrainian Christmas repertoire. With Christianity came the majestic, yet tender story of the birth of Jesus. Carols glorifying this event became the vehicle for retelling each and every year the wonder of that occurrence.

According to Oleksa Voropay, who in 1958 published a two-volume work titled "The Customs of our People," which contains a good deal of information on Ukrainian ethnography and folklore, there are interesting theories as to the origins of the word "koliada." It probably was derived from the Latin name for New Year, which in ancient Rome was called "calendae januariae." Another theory points to the origin of the word "koliada" in the Slavic mythology, where a pagan god named Koliada appears in the celebrations of the winter solstice.

In the Ukrainian tradition there are two groups of Christmas carols: koliady and "schedrivky" (derived from the word "shchedryi," meaning generous). The latter are sung from New Year's Day until the Feast of the Epiphany.

Ukrainian koliady have various themes. The ones with religious themes became most widespread in the second half of the 19th century and are still sung today. They tell the story of the birth and life of Jesus. The koliady with agricultural and nature themes, wedding themes, some with pagan mythological elements, others dealing with warriors or hunters, as well as historic heroic episodes mainly from the ninth to 12th centuries, are not that widely known. Glorification songs make up one of the largest groups of koliady. In these songs the farmer or landowner, and his wife and children are praised and glorified.

Ukrainian koliady have a purpose: to glorify God, rejoice in the birth of Jesus, and to express wishes of good health, happiness and prosperity. These joyful and beautiful songs are a spiritual confirmation and celebration of life through which the time-honored folk and religious traditions of our ancestors are continued. From the simple village koliady to their refinement by such noted Ukrainian composers as Stetsenko, Leontovych, Barvinsky and others, the words and melodies of these carols are a tribute to the cultural and spiritual wealth of the Ukrainian people.

The koliady and schedrivky on the recording "Ukrainian Christmas" are all-time favorites that anyone who is of Ukrainian heritage has loved and sung from childhood, such as "Nova Radist Stala," "Na Nebi Zirka," "Khrystos Rodyvsia" and "Schedryk," among many others. There are 18 carols in all.

The price of the CDs is $15, and cassettes are $10 each. For mail orders add postage and handling charges of $3. (Credit cards are accepted.) For information contact: The Ukrainian Museum, 203 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003; telephone, (212) 228-0110; e-mail, [email protected]; webpage: http://www.ukrainianmuseum.org/.

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