Slavic Christmas traditions

Christmas celebrations and traditions in Ukraine

Children and young people in central Europe dress as the Three Kings, walk from house to house, sing traditional and new carols, collect money for charity and bring the blessing for the new year to the people.

thumb|200px|Verteps parade, [[Lviv, Ukraine]] thumb|200px|Koledari|Kolędowanie in Poland, 2019 thumb|200px|Kolyadka performers in Belgorod Oblast, Russia, 2013

thumbnail|Konstantin Trutovsky. Koliaduvannia in Ukraine. 1864 thumbnail|Koliaduvannia in Lviv, Ukraine. City festival. 2012 thumbnail|Koledari near Sofia in the mid. of the 20th century. Koliadari or koliadnyky () are Slavic traditional performers of a ceremony called celebration of Koliada, a kind of Christmas caroling. It is associated with Koliada (Calends), a celebration incorporated later into Christmas.

right|thumb|300 px|M. Germashev. «With a Star». 1916

Malanka (, or ) is a Ukrainian folk holiday celebrated on 31 December, which is New Year's Eve in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Formerly it was celebrated on 13 January corresponding to 31 December in the Julian calendar (see Old New Year). The festivities were historically centred around house-to-house visiting by groups of young men, costumed as characters from a folk tale of pre-Christian origin, as well as special food and drink. The context of the rituals has changed, but some elements continue to the present.

Christmas celebrations and traditions in Russia

thumb|Drawing of a Ukrainian vertep box from Sokyryntsi, 18th century thumb|Mezhyhirya vertep, 1923 In Ukrainian culture, vertep (, from ) is a portable puppet theatre and drama, which presents the nativity scene, other mystery plays, as well as secular plots with satirical and comical elements. The original meaning of the word is "secret place", "cave", "den", referring to the cave where Christ was born, i.e., the Bethlehem Cave. Vertep first appeared in the second half of the 16th century under the influence of Western European traditions, which spread to Ukrainian lands, then part of the Po

A česnica (Serbian Cyrillic: чесница, ; derived from the noun čest, meaning "share"), also called Božićna pogača (Serbian Cyrillic: Божићна погача, "Christmas pogača") is the ceremonial, round loaf of bread that is an indispensable part of Christmas dinner in Serbian tradition. The preparation of this bread may be accompanied by various rules and rituals. A coin is often put into the dough during the kneading; other small objects may also be inserted. At the beginning of Christmas dinner, the česnica is rotated three times counterclockwise, before being broken among the family members. The per

folk play

depictions of folk fest Koliada

1958 Disney TV programming

thumb|Batlejka booth in the Belarusian National History Museum thumb|Batlejka puppets in the Belarusian National History Museum thumb|Batlejka depicted on a Belarusian post stamp Batlejka (Batleyka; ) is a Belarusian amateur puppet theatre. Its name is derived from the city of Bethlehem and performances are traditionally given over the Christmas period.

deity

Bulgarian Christmas tradition