How did our ancestors, the Slavs, celebrate the New Year (in a new way - new year)?
313 times in Russia, they celebrated the arrival of the New Year on the night of December 31 to January 1, according to the official history. This is a long time for some kind of tradition to be formed.
And insignificant in comparison with the Slavic traditions of chronology. before the Petrovsky New Year's Day, first introduced in 1700, the Slavs met natural holidays "not at all like that and not then." I'm not talking about the fact that the Great Feasts of the Transition from one state to another were celebrated by our ancestors before the Creation of the World 7521 years ago …
You want to celebrate, but how?
Suppose that you have felt that your soul is asking for a holiday, laughter and lights in these darkest times of the year. And in this craving lies the genetic memory of our ancestors - after all, during the Winter Solstice one of the four natural holidays falls - the meeting of Kolyada!
Let's figure it out slowly! Sit down to the light, listen to my northern tales …
Promotional video:
When is it worth celebrating at all?
Holidays related to the movement of the sun are the most important. This is a turn of the sun and the earth, and indeed of all nature, to a new stage of life. March 22, June 22, September 22, December 22 - these are the dates in which the meaning, depth, knowledge is really embedded.
The day of the winter solstice is approaching, Karachun! Another miracle will happen. The day "on the passerine gallop" will begin to arrive, and the winter sun will flare up. Carols holiday. The Slavs also checked the exact day of the holiday with the lunar calendar, reacting more subtly to what is happening in nature.
What are we celebrating?
For the Slavs, each change of the year was important and carried a vital meaning. We greeted spring with Maslenitsa-Komoeditsa, summer with the Kupala holiday, and autumn with Tausen-Ovsenya.
In December, we meet winter and the Sun, reborn! New, strong, young!
Why Kolyada?
And why was Kolyada celebrated at this particular time? December 22 - The Sun passes from one state to another, and, as the Slavs believed, conditions are created for the appearance in our world of "Navies", the inhabitants of another world. Until Vodokrest (January 19), their presence and influence is increasing. The last week before Vodokrest was even called "terrible evenings".
During this period, people can be captured by the other world, in which other laws operate, time flows in a different way. After all, there are known stories about how people got to evil creatures and could not notice how the days, months, years passed. Many peoples had such beliefs. In one of the oldest Russian epics, Sadko gets to the sea king and loses his sense of time while terrible events take place in the human world.
And in order for people to hold on to Reality, they were given a sense of time. People got a way to look back, look ahead, into the future, and track this flow of time, feel and appreciate every moment spent in this life.
So they glorify Kolyada, who gave people such an important protection, with a bright holiday, the essence of which is the joy of earthly existence, the joy of this world, in time and according to the laws of which we lead our earthly existence.
Celebrated like this
The mummers, in a crowd, tumbled into the huts, in the window of which candles were burning - a special sign. This whole crowd screams, laughs, dances. Participants in the fun tell stories, fairy tales, someone starts guessing, someone asks for food.
Researchers noticed that the dances of the mummers were different from those pair or collective dances that were performed on ordinary holidays. Boys and girls portrayed "strange movements", "jumping and prancing", "amazing and precise movements of the legs", "all kinds of wobbling, twisting and somersaults." Everything was accompanied by ringing, noise, crashing, crackling, clanging of stove dampers, iron buckets, spoons, sticks, pans, etc.
Christmas entertainment was full of sexual symbols, as well as appropriate gestures and obscene language, which in ordinary times was strictly prohibited by the moral code.
That is why even now, at New Year's parties, Santa Claus always asks children to sing, dance, tell a poem.
In the Russian North, this holiday has always been appreciated, lighting people up with light on the dark and cold December days and nights.
Three tips for a real holiday experience:
First: give round rolls
For green and red Christmastide (Komoeditsa and Ovsen), pancakes were baked - a symbol of the unity of the earth and the sun. On the yellow Christmastide (Kupala), "larks" were baked - buns made of karalka tied in a knot and stacked like a "Sitting Lark".
And on the white Christmastide - on the Kolyada round rolls were baked. Russians ate mostly rye bread, sometimes they mixed in barley flour. Wheat flour was used for rolls, which were a delicacy on a holiday.
There is a well-known proverb: "You cannot lure with a Kalach." The best rolls were baked in the form of rings, the other variety - in round rolls. It was the rolls that were a wonderful gift for this holiday, a table decoration.
Second: make natural disguises and go for a walk
The Slavs disguised themselves as different animals, etc. You have to put on a ridiculously scary disguise. Do not expect that "it will do just that." The most correct way would be to make a suit from natural materials. Make a mask of rough work from pieces of fur, washcloth, sackcloth, birch bark, from any material at hand.
As a result - some kind of beast, or a monster will go for a walk down the street. Do not frighten passers-by, these "horror stories" are not for them, but for those creatures that have no place in this world. Have fun as light and joyful as our ancestors did. May the holiday of this life, the holiday of the young sun, disperse the dark forces, which have accumulated a lot during this time.
Third: remember the heritage of your ancestors
Kolyada is an ancient holiday, a natural holiday bequeathed to us by our ancestors. And today, when the Russian people want to know their roots, we remember these traditions, these stories, these northern tales of our ancient land!
Author: Irina Ivanova