documentary photos on Flickr

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Christmas song ‘God was Born on a sleigh’ with lyrics by Bohdan-Ihor Antonych. Performed by Vasyl Zhdankin (1989) by Anatoly Gray

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I would like to share with you this Christmas song by the talented Ukrainian bard and kobzar Vasyl Zhdankin (1958–2019), which he recorded based on a poem by the brilliant poet Bohdan-Ihor Antonych (1909–1937).

The fragment featuring the song is part of the documentary film “My Kobza” (1989), dedicated to the revival of the kobzar tradition in Ukraine — a tradition that suffered total destruction under Soviet rule. Kobzars were itinerant musicians (usually blind, accompanied by a young guide) who for centuries traveled between Ukrainian villages, introducing people to various forms of folklore, including 'dumy' - songs about historical events, Cossack songs, and more.

Vasyl Zhdankin was one of the enthusiasts of this cultural revival, although his kobza was somewhat modernized and tuned similarly to a modern six-string guitar. Zhdankin was the first person to publicly perform the song “Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished” (our current official national anthem), doing so at the Chervona Ruta festival in Chernivtsi in the summer of 1989. It was still the USSR at the time, and this act was quite courageous.

He was also a deeply religious man, which is why spiritual songs make up a significant part of his artistic legacy. Sadly, the renowned bard died in a car accident in 2019.

The brilliant poet Bohdan-Ihor Antonych lived a short life — he was weakened by tuberculosis, which at that time could not yet be treated effectively. Nevertheless, the final years of his life were marked by an extraordinary creative output, mainly lyrical in nature. He came from Lemkivshchyna, an ethnic Ukrainian mountainous region that today is divided between Poland and Slovakia.

The song is symbolic, since we all know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. I believe Antonych wanted to bring this event closer to local people — to his fellow countrymen and to their traditions.

I would also like to note that in Ukraine, until 2023, Christmas was officially celebrated on January 7. Immediately after the Baptism of Rus’ in 988, the feast was celebrated on December 25 according to the Julian calendar. In 1582, Europe switched to a new calendar — the Gregorian one — but the Orthodox Church of Rus’ (Ukrainian) remained on the Julian calendar.

Muscovy also stayed on the Julian calendar — not only the Church, but the entire state system of timekeeping — as did the Russian Empire later on. In 1918, the Bolsheviks finally adopted the Gregorian calendar, but the Church did not recognize this change and continued to celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar (that is, December 25 in the Julian calendar falls on January 7 in the Gregorian calendar).

And now, in 2023, due to the war and for reasons that are more political than religious, the Ukrainian parliament decided that Christmas would be officially celebrated together with Europe. However, ordinary people celebrate it in different ways: some according to the new calendar, some according to the old one, some celebrate both, and some do not celebrate at all.

Since Flickr provides only three minutes for free, the end of the song was slightly cut. At the end, Zhdankin proclaims: “Christ is born — let us glorify Him!” In Ukraine, Orthodox Christians greet each other in this way, and on the eve of Christmas they say when meeting: “Christ is being born!”

The full documentary film 'My kobza' can be watched on YouTube. Here is one of the links: youtu.be/oUCPKsa_Lpk?si=yAvKRBd1TnkGc8sh

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