Supernatural Beings Identified with Christian Saints Codexery

Malanka

Ukrainian New Year's Eve folk holiday with pagan-rooted house-visiting traditions.

Last updated

The tradition was unofficially banned during the Soviet period, with participants persecuted, but it survived and remains popular in modern-day Ukraine.[1] The celebration known as Malanka is a folk holiday observed on the Old New Year's Eve, which is also called Bounteous Evening because of the "schedra kutia" (generous kutia) eaten then, and it features processions, costumes, and specific ritual foods.[2][3]

Life and work

The holiday is named after the "generous" or "bountiful" kutia (schedra kutia) eaten on that evening, distinguishing it from the lenten kutia of Christmas Eve and the "hungry kutia" of Theophany Eve.[3] Historically the most lavish Malanka celebrations occurred in Hutsulshchyna, Bukovyna, Pokuttia, and Dnieper Ukraine.[4] Procession members sing songs at each house, then present a humorous play inside.[5] Unmarried girls traditionally performed fortunetelling on Malanka to predict their marriage success.[6]

Farmers performed rituals to predict rain and drought, and garden trees that failed to bear fruit were "threatened" with an axe by the host.[6] In contemporary times, the southwestern Ukrainian areas of Bukovyna, Pokuttia, and southern Podolia have the strongest preservation of this tradition.[4] Every year, many tourists are drawn to Malanka processions in places like Vashkivtsi and Krasnoilsk.[4] Only men are allowed to participate in the processions in Bukovyna, and in certain places this is restricted further to unmarried males.[5]

What the cited sources add

Canadian folklorist Robert Klymasz identified the Ukrainian Malanka tradition as akin to mummering in Britain, Ireland, and Newfoundland, but with several differences.[7] Klymasz noted that Ukrainian Malanka mummers were typically unmarried and always male, and they visited houses with unmarried young women as part of courtship.[7] Klymasz noted that the humor in the ritual stemmed from selecting the most awkward and lanky young man to portray Malanka, while the songs celebrated her imagined beauty.[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Malanka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Пуківський, "Ведмеді з крилами і цигани з булавами: як українці святкують Маланку", localhistory.org.ua (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Malanka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Щедрий Вечір — "другий Свят-Вечір""; "Щедра кутя (13 січня) – Олександр Токар", otokar.com.ua (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Malanka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Василь Скуратівський. Русалії. — Київ: Довіра, 1996. — С. 532—533. ISBN 966-507-028-2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Malanka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ведмеді з крилами і цигани з булавами: як українці святкують Маланку"; "Переберія на Маланку: фоторепортаж з українського карнавалу" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Malanka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ведмеді з крилами і цигани з булавами: як українці святкують Маланку" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Malanka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Свято Маланки та Василя. Стаття 1945 року."; "Сади і виноградники Гетьманщини", 2025-09-16; "Який Новий рік, такий буде і цілий рік! Новорічні та йорданські звичаї українців." (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Malanka" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Klymasz, "'Malanka': Ukrainian Mummery on the Prairies", Canadian Folk Music Journal, January 1985, p. 32–36 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Malanka (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Pie

More in Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints

Mari (goddess)Master HilarionMaximónMorya (Theosophy)ỌbatalaOgnyena MariaOsarsephOssetian mythologyỌyaParaskeva FridayQueen of Heaven (antiquity)Quetzalcōātl

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →