Koliada or koleda ( Cyrillic: коляда, коледа, колада, коледе) is the traditional Slavic name for the period from Christmas to Epiphany or, more generally, to Slavic Christmas-related rituals, some dating to pre-Christian times. It represents a festival or holiday, celebrated at the end of December to honor the sun during the winter solstice. It also involves groups of singers who visit houses to sing carols.

Terminology

The word is still used in modern Ukrainian ("Коляда", Koliadá), Belarusian (''Каляда'', Kalada, Kaliada), Polish (Szczodre Gody ''kolęda'' ), Bulgarian, Macedonian,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

(''Коледа, Коледе, koleda, kolenda''), Lithuanian (''Kalėdos, Kalėda''),

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

, Slovak, Slovene (''koleda'') and Romanian (''Colindă''). The word used in Old Church Slavonic language (Колѧда - Kolęnda) sounds closest to the current Polish language pronunciation, as Polish is one of two Slavic languages which retains the nasal vowels of the Proto-Slavic language (the other is closely related Kashubian). One theory states that Koliada is the name of a cycle of winter rituals stemming from the ancient ''

calendae The calends or kalends ( la, kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar. The English word "calendar" is derived from this word. Use The Romans called the first day of every month the ''calends'', signifying the start of a ne ...

''Encyclopedia of Ukraine
/ref> as for example the

Kalenda Proclamation The Proclamation of the Birth of Christ, Kalenda Proclamation, or Christmas Proclamation, is a chant sung before the Midnight Mass for Christmas in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. The long text is a timeline, in which each verse represents t ...

. In modern Belarusian , Ukrainian (koliada),

, Slovak, Croatian (koleda, kolenda), Kashubian (''kòlãda'' wɛlãda and Polish (''kolęda'' , Old Polish ''kolenda'') the meaning has shifted from Christmas itself to denoting the tradition of strolling, singing, and having fun on Christmas Eve, same in the Balkan Slavs. It specifically applies to children and teens who walk house to house greeting people, singing and sifting grain that denotes the best wishes and receiving candy and small money in return. The action is called kolyadovanye () in Russian, kolyaduvannya ( Ukrainian колядування) in Ukrainian and is now applied to similar Old East Slavic celebrations of other old significant holidays, such as '' Generous Eve'' (russian: Маланья, Щедрый вечер, be, Шчодры вечар, uk, Щедрий вечiр) the evening before New Year's Day, as well as the celebration of the arrival of spring. Similarly in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

, in the tradition of koleduvane (коледуване) or koledarenje (коледарење) around Christmas, groups of children visiting houses, singing carols and receiving a gift at parting. The kids are called '

koledari Koledari are Slavic traditional performers of a ceremony called ''koleduvane'', a kind of Christmas caroling. It is associated with Koliada, a celebration incorporated later into Christmas. This type of caroling is called "kolędowanie" in Pol ...

' or rarely 'kolezhdani' who sing kolyadki (songs). Koleda is also celebrated across northern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

by the

Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia , region3 = , pop3 = 81,745 (2006 census) – 90,000 (est.) descendants of migrants from the region of Macedonia , ref3 = , region4 = , pop4 = 50,000 – 70,000 (est., incl. descendants) , ref4 = Simpson, Neil (1994). Macedonia Its Disputed H ...

, in areas from

Florina Florina ( el, Φλώρινα, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the F ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

, where it is called Koleda (Κόλιντα, Κόλιαντα) or Koleda Babo (Κόλιντα Μπάμπω) which means "Koleda Grandmother" in Slavic. It is celebrated before Christmas by gathering in the village square and lighting a bonfire, followed by local

Macedonian music Music of Macedonia may refer to: *Music of North Macedonia, a sovereign state in southeastern Europe *Music of Macedonia (Greece), a region of Greece immediately south of North Macedonia See also *Music of Southeastern Europe Balkan music is a t ...

and dancing. Croatian composer

Jakov Gotovac Jakov Gotovac (11 October 189516 October 1982) was a Croatian composer and conducting, conductor of classical music. His comic opera, ''Ero s onoga svijeta'' (''Ero the Joker''), Croatia's best-known opera, was first performed in Zagreb in 1935. ...

wrote in 1925 the composition "Koleda", which he called a "folk rite in five parts", for male choir and small orchestra (3 clarinets, 2 bassoons,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

and drum). Also,

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

kolenda is one of the oldest recorded traditions of this kind in Croatia (its first mentioned in 13th century). There is also a dance from

called "The Dubrovnik Koleda."

References

{{Slavic holidays, state=collapsed Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Slavic culture Slavic holidays Folk calendar of the East Slavs Belarusian traditions Bulgarian traditions Czech traditions Polish traditions Russian traditions Serbian traditions Slovak traditions Ukrainian traditions Slavic Christmas traditions