Malanka

By Walter Kish

One of the traditions many Ukrainians observe during the Christmas holiday season is Malanka, known to most, albeit somewhat erroneously, as the Ukrainian New Year’s Eve.  True, it does take place on the eve of the New Year according to the old Julian calendar. However, fewer and fewer Diaspora Ukrainians are at all familiar with the history, traditions and observance of Malanka as it was celebrated throughout most of Ukrainian history.  As a friend of mine, Father Bohdan Hladio, pointed out to me recently, for most people, Malanka is just another New Year’s Eve party where we pay big bucks to eat, drink, dance, and at midnight drink champagne and sing Auld Lang Syne.  Our forefathers would undoubtedly be mystified and disappointed with what we call Malanka.

Ukrainian religious traditions designate the day before New Year’s, also known as Shchedriy Vechir, as the Feast Day of St. Melania. She was a Roman of rich noble birth living in the Fifth Century AD, who gave up all her possessions to help the poor, and moved to the Holy Land where she helped found a number of monasteries.  She became much revered in the Byzantine church. 

Although, since the time Christianity was introduced to Ukraine, the day before New Year’s has been celebrated in her honour, many of the folk traditions surrounding Malanka date to an even earlier pagan time and are intimately tied to the rural and pastoral cycles of agricultural life. 

One of the many rituals I came across while researching Malanka traditions, was that on New Year’s Eve, the lady of the house would bake two ceremonial breads, one called Malanka and the other Vasyl.  One should note that New Year’s Day (Jan. 14) is also the Feast Day of St. Vasyl Velykiy [the Great].  Then, without washing her hands of the flour and dough from the baking of the bread, she would proceed with her husband to those fruit trees that had not yielded a good crop that year, and a little ceremony would follow.  The husband would tap the tree with the back of an axe and threaten to cut it down if it did not yield a better crop in the following year.  The wife would then answer for the tree, promising a better yield and rub the tree with the left-over flour on her hands. 

In Hutsul lore, the head of the house would take the same bread to the stream and dip it three times in the water saying “This is not bread dipping in the water, but I in health and strength”. He would then fill a pitcher with the water, saying “I take not water, but honey and wine”, and bring it back to the house.  There he would hold the bread above the head of each inhabitant and say “May you be as great as St. Vasyl Velykiy”. He would then put some money into the pitcher of water and keep it there overnight.  In the morning, all members of the household would wash themselves with that water which would bring them good luck and wealth in the coming year.  One does not have to be an anthropologists to discern the eclectic and almost ironic mix of Christian and pagan rituals.

In some regions of Bukovyna, young men would dress up in horse costumes and go from house-to-house with musicians and revellers in tow.  Wherever they found an unmarried young woman, they would dance with her until she bribed them to leave by giving them sweets or money.

In many regions of Western Ukraine, it was custom to clear everything off the pich (stove/oven) and give it a fresh coat of whitewash.  It was believed that during the night, the pich came to life and danced.

Almost everywhere, it was customary for the young people to get dressed up in costumes and go house-to-house, singing, dancing and performing mimes, similar to the Verteps at Christmas, though these were less religious and more playful and mischievous in nature.

Another custom prevalent throughout Western Ukraine and one that I personally remember from my own youth was that on New Year’s Day, my brother and I would go from house-to-house and sow wheat inside the entrance of each house and recite a poetic incantation wishing the householder prosperity and luck in the New Year.

In researching old Ukrainian Malanka traditions, it became increasingly clear to me how little of this rich trove of Malanka customs we have preserved.  For all those Ukrainian organizations planning to hold a Malanka in January, I would challenge you to try and make it less of an “Auld Lang Syne” event and more of a Schedriy Vechir.