Malanka is a Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian,
folk holiday celebrated on 13 January, which is New Year's Eve in accordance with the Julian calendar (see Old New Year).
Ukrainian New Year's obtained the
name Malanka from a folk tale collected by a Ukrainian ethnologist. The story
is based on The Creator Praboh and his four sons and one daughter. One son was
the Devil, the second son was St. George (Yar-Yarylo), the third was
St. John (Rai) and the fourth was Lad or Myr (Peace). The one daughter is our
mother Earth and she was named Lada, who had two children, a son who was called
the Moon and a daughter Spring-May, who was
later referred to as Mylanka because she was loving (мила).
As mother Earth, she was responsible for the blooming of flowers and the
greenery spread in spring. Her evil uncle, the Devil desired her presence in
his underground world and stole her one-day when the Moon was hunting. While
she was gone, the Earth was left without spring and once she was released from
the Devil, flowers began to bloom and greenery spread around the world.
Ukrainians celebrate Malanka to symbolize the release of spring and to welcome
it soon.
Malanka commemorates the feast day of
Saint Melania the
Younger. On this night in Ukraine, carolers traditionally went from house to
house playing pranks or acting out a small play (similar to Vertep), with a bachelor dressed in women's clothing leading the
troop. Today, Ukrainians all over the world still follow this tradition but
with different variations that have been passed down from their ancestors.
People gather in groups, dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothing and holding
props such as the star and go door to door to their neighbours, nearest friends
and family. This is called a Koliada, which starts on 6 January, Christmas Eve (Sviaty Vechir)
and ends on 19 January. Traditionally, the first thing to do when you are
invited into the family's house is to have the eldest male throw wheat grains
around the entrance, which gifts the family with happiness, health, love, luck
and more. As the male is throwing the wheat grain, he is saying a verse (вірш).
Once this is completed, the rest
of the carolers join in. Each person sends wishes to the family through these
verses, they perform little skits and in between each of these, they sing
traditional Ukrainian carols (Kolyadka).
To keep the tradition alive,
Ukrainian organizations have created events at banquet halls to help celebrate
Malanka. These events typically occur a week after Christmas Eve, but not
necessarily falling on 13 or 14 January. This gathers the whole community and
allows everyone to enjoy themselves while honoring their cultural background.
People come to these events ready to socialize and celebrate the New Year with
friends and family. The event provides a nice dinner with raffles and prizes to
be won and ends with a zabava. At midnight, once everyone cheers for the New
Year, individual and pair polka dancing is stopped and the kolomyjka
begins. When the kolomyjka is finished, everyone resumes to
their previous dancing and continue to party the night away. Malanka caps off
the festivities of the Christmas holidays, and is often the last opportunity for partying
before the solemn period of Lent which precedes Easter.
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