So that the fields will be productive, and there will be harmony in the family. How Kolyada was celebrated in the Gomel region

Carols are an amazing and colorful holiday . The evenings of these days - from January 6 to January 19, according to the new style, were popularly called "saints." How were Kolyada celebrated in different areas of the Gomel region? What beliefs and customs did our ancestors have? Folklorist, DOCTOR of Philology, Professor of the Gomel State University named after F. Skaryna Valentina Novak told a BELTA correspondent about this.
Humor, fun and hopes for all the good Unique information about winter rituals and customs was recorded from the lips of residents of the region during folklore expeditions of students and teachers of the Gomel State University named after F. Skorina.

“In the people’s memory, even today, information is quite firmly preserved about how they used to carol, what kind of fortune-telling there were for a good harvest, for the betrothed, what signs and beliefs they were guided by, what kind of carol-generous songs they sang. Such testimonies of people are a reliable source of ideas about traditional folklore heritage," the professor emphasizes.

"Carols not only delighted our ancestors, but also united them with fun, humor, games, hopes for everything good and generous in their personal lives and in the household, the desire to learn about the future, faith in carol miracles, songs of magnificence addressed to the owner of the house, the hostess , son and daughter,” adds the teacher.

She draws attention to the fact that modern people are also partial to carol rituals, customs, and songs. “They continue to cherish in the depths of their hearts the echoes of carol celebrations of the past, try to learn the secrets of folk imagination and be inspired by the poetic worldview of Belarusians,” Valentina Novak is convinced.
With a goat and more According to the folklorist, during the expeditions it was possible to reveal interesting local features and peculiarities of carol and New Year rituals, which preserve the general ethnic basis. For example, in the Kormyansky region they caroled not only with a goat, the residents believed in its magical effect on the yield of fields and a warning against misfortunes, but also “Pava with a Spider” - a dressed-up girl and a guy - could walk around their houses. “Such information was recorded in the villages of Strukachev, Zadubye, Kormyansky district. Unlike carolers with a goat, Pavu and the spider were not allowed into the house,” clarifies Valentina Novak.

The original custom called “chasing fleas” was in the village of Chekhi, Narovlya region. “As local residents recalled, women and men changed clothes and went to ‘chase fleas’. The men took oaks, walked ahead, and
the next day women changed them,” the teacher notes, referring to the information collected.

Interesting carol moments were also recorded in the Bragin region. So, in the village of Dubrovnoye, when the ritual of walking with a star was completed, the owners, after their greatness, were seated on chairs and thrown up to the ceiling. The action was accompanied by the following words: “Master and mistress for many years to come! May God grant you peace and blessings for the coming years. May your home be happy and healthy, so that everything in your house will be thin: both thin and healthy.”

Kolyada was widely celebrated in the Zhitkovichi region, the folklorist continues. Thus, villagers from the village of Pukhovichi believed that Kolyady was celebrated so that there would be plenty of everything, so that there would be harmony in the houses. In Khilchitsy, an obligatory character in the carol retinue was the “generous man” dressed in rags, who symbolized the connection with the world of ancestral spirits. In Kolno they not only brought a goat, but also carried a Christmas tree with candles. “This was due to mythological ideas about this tree associated with protective magic, the cult of ancestors, and the idea of ​​preserving life,” explains Valentina Novak.

The unique features of the celebration of Kolyad are also noted in the Chechersky region. “This is driving a crane and dressing carolers as gypsies (agricultural town of Motnevichi), the ritual of driving a horse (Babich), using the icon of the Mother of God as a “star” (Nisimkovichi), the custom of leading a goat on the third kutya and “wearing a busla” (Babich), a combination elements of caroling and carrying a candle (Babich, Zalesye). In Repishche, icons of Christ the Savior and the Mother of God are transferred to Kolyady. And near the threshold of the house where the New Year's candle is brought, a magical dance is performed," the professor lists some features.

Not only a goat, but also a “bear” was taken to the second kutya in Korma, Dobrush district. The old-timers outlined the details: “They boiled out the skins, they called on some peasants, they gave a stick to the pit. There was a lot of mischief with the “meadzvedzem”, they scared people on the streets.”
How to invite frost to dinnerAn important component of the structure of the carol and New Year's ritual complex of the Gomel region is to invite frost to the carol dinner. “This happened on the first kutya, or on the second, or on the third, or on all three. And in different corners, the ritual dialogue of inviting frost differs precisely in regional and local flavor,” the teacher emphasizes. Thus, once in the village of Dubrova, Narovlya region, inviting frost for dinner was accompanied by shooting from a gun. “Village residents said that they prepared
different foods, always invited guests, sat down and shouted out the window: “Maroz, Maroz, idzi kutstyu estsi!” And after these words they had to fire a gun,” Valentina Novak plunges into the world of beliefs.

And in the Loyevsky region there was a custom on Kolyady to cast a spell on a bad tree. “People came up to the APPLE tree with an ax and said: “If you don’t bear fruit, you won’t.” And, according to the recollections of old-timers from Loev, the next year the situation changed for the better. They frightened the apple trees with an ax so that they would “grow apples,” and in the village of Capricorns ", says the folklorist.

When asked why a pot of kutya had to stand on the hay, during expeditions in the same area they received the following answer: “Jesus is happy on the hay.” “At the same time, local residents associated the motive of Christ’s salvation with an interesting interpretation of the spider. They said that when they were already looking for the baby Christ, “the spider fell asleep that month” and helped hide the mother of God with the child. And it is no coincidence that in Polesie there is a widespread belief that that a spider cannot be killed. Loyiv residents said: if a spider crawls, it must be removed and “thrown out.” Because its role, determined by the idea of ​​weaving as the creation of the world, a talisman of the holy family, correlates with heavenly symbolism,” the professor says about the ideas of Polesie residents.
Why burn a wheel and draw on the walls with chalk? In Ogorodnya Kuzminichskaya, Dobrush district, the following actions were associated with hopes for a good harvest: as soon as the carolers entered the house, the owner tried to smash the pumpkin on the floor. “People believed: if you manage to break it with one blow, so that the seeds fall in different directions, then the year will be rich and fruitful,” explains Valentina Novak. And he backs it up with notes from the villagers: “These charadze seeds are like the bread that they give to the shchadroushchyks, hell is evil, hell is food.”

In the Corners of the Rogachev region, they danced around the fire with the song “Idze old Kalyada, prydzi, my share”, in which they burned an effigy of old Kolyada. They also harnessed three horses, which were driven by a young girl as an image-symbol of the new Kolyada, the New Year, and they also sprinkled everyone with grain.

“On the third Kutya, which was celebrated on Epiphany, in the village of Koshevichi, Petrikovsky district, the owner painted crosses on the windows and doors of the house to protect the courtyard from the influence of evil spirits,” the teacher cites another ritual. She points out that the custom of drawing with chalk on the walls of a house or outbuilding received its interpretation in the Mozyr region, where images of horses were painted instead of crosses. “Horses, horses, yazzhaytse, za saby maroz zabіraytse,” these were the words that were recorded during the expeditions and accompanied painting in the Mozyr region.

During caroling in the Buda-Koshelevsky district, they showed batley performances, fragments from the drama “King Herod”, dressed up as gypsies
(for example, in Elenets), led a crane (in Potapovka), walked with a bear (in Uvarovichi).

And in the Rechitsa region there was a ritual during which a wheel was burned - it was dragged onto a 10-meter pole, previously doused with cold water. “It was believed that the wheel is a symbolic embodiment of the old year, only after the passing of which the new year began,” the professor emphasizes, based on popular beliefs. And he cites a clarification recorded from the inhabitants of the Ozersk region: “Chalavek, like a sleeping stake, lichytstsa with a flat hass, like a requirement for meetings to go away.”
To live a rich life and not let your HEALTH down “Many beliefs of our ancestors are associated with Kolyada,” continues the teacher. So, in Prisno, Vetkovsky district, they believed: pumpkins will give a good
harvest if you break the one that was left for seeds when the first Shchedrovians arrive. In Ivolsk, Buda-Koshelevsky district, the owner broke a pumpkin for the old New Year so that he could live richly. Villagers from the Pobeditel Loyevsky district gave hay from under the carol tablecloth to the cow so that it would produce a lot of MILK. And in Velikiy Bor, Khoiniki region, hens were planted on the hay from under the carol kutya in the spring to hatch chicks.

In Pokolyubichy, Gomel region, a good swarm of bees was associated with a blizzard on Christmas Day. At Epiphany, they tried to maintain cleanliness in the houses of Sinichino in the Buda-Koshelevsky district. They believed that this would help the family be healthy all year round.

“In Soltanovo, Rechitsa district, they believed that it was necessary to cross themselves and ask God for the cherished, unseen on the third Kutya, associated with Epiphany. According to the village residents, such an opportunity comes only once a year, because “the heavens and heavens are revealed.” ", - the folklorist cites another representation of the ancestors.

“The spiritual culture of Belarusians, including carol traditions, is an important source of nurturing love for the native land, awareness of the enormous value of the people's heritage," concludes Valentina Novak.

BELTA, photo from the archive.