Today I want to wish all steemiters happy Old New Year.
Something about Old New Year:
on the night of 13 to 14 January, Ukrainians celebrate the Old New Year - this holiday has appeared thanks to change in the chronology.
The notion of celebration upon "old" and "new" style has entered in our life after the calendar's change in 1918 year - since that time many Ukrainians meet another celebration of New Year by the Gregorian calendar instead of the Julian.
The Generous Evening of January 13 is very similar to the Christmas Eve, but the dishes & some holiday traditions has some little difference.
During this period of celebration, it is necessary to meet the Old New Year by cooking a plentiful food to the family table, on which necessarily stand the kutya with meat.
Evening on the eve of the Old New Year, called Generous, because of cooking of a "generous kutya", which, unlike the lenten kutja on Christmas Eve, is filled with meat and lard.
AS usual, at January 13 evening, the whole family should gather together for festive dinner & ask each other's forgiveness and than propose happiness, prosperity in the new year.
One of the most established custom of actions for the Old New Year is singing a special for this day folk songs, named "shchedrovki".
The liric of such "shchedrovki", like "Carol of the Bells", was the most popular & used in those chants. The joyful company of kids from dusk till dawn are singing those kind of "shchedrovki" from house to house.
According next ritual on the Old New Year, at the early morning of 14 January, boys and young guys fill their pockets with whole-wheat grain and scatter it all around first of all in own home.
Then they goes to the homes of godparents, relatives, neighbors or other people to sow this whole-wheat inside house or at this threshold. So, in this case, the sowers want happiness, prosperity and good harvests for these people in this new year. Then these grateful for a visit and congratulations people give in return money or other interesting gifts.
I remember one of those songs, which I had singing, when I was a little kid & it sounds like this:
I sow, winnow, sow
I congratulate you with New Year ,
So open the chest
and give a penny ...
