While the Russian empire struggled with the very existence of the Ukrainian language and folk customs, the USSR chose another way – their integration into the Soviet context and further marginalization. Such a strategy was applied to dictionaries of the Ukrainian languages, when whole layers of lexicon were marked as “rarely used” or “dialect” and therefore replaced with Russian equivalents. The consequences of such language and cultural policy are still used by modern Russia (which is a successor to the USSR) sharing narratives about Ukraine as a country without its own culture, with a language, which is “almost identical” to Russian.
From its earliest days, communist ideology in the USSR has seen religion as a competitor. The struggle with “religious prejudices” was established at the legislative level as part of a campaign to enlighten the masses. In Ukraine, religious holidays intertwine Christian traditions with folk customs including pagan elements – and that is why Soviet authorities started its massive “anti-Christmas” campaign. Christmas trees were the ones to suffer the first blow, being condemned as “bourgeois remnants”.
Then, it was the turn of Christmas carolers dressed up as vertep characters (typically including three kings, shepherds, Herod, different animals, etc.) who were displaying the nativity scene in Ukrainian homes during the Christmas season. Normally, they were singing koliadky – Ukrainian Christmas carols, showing respect to the master and mistress of the house, wishing them good harvest and prosperity, and combining both Christian and pagan motives: referring to archaic myths of the creation of the universe and glorifying the birth of Jesus Christ.
After banning folk tradition, however, the communist party came up with creating a new one – and this is how the construct of the Soviet New Year was born. Mass festivities and demonstrations were an effective method of uniting people around communist ideas – and, as a result, this provoked a bizarre phenomenon of “Komsomol Christmas”. The tradition of caroling was too hard to eliminate so it was transformed “in a Soviet way”. Instead of addressing the master and mistress of the house and wishing them wealth and prosperity (which could be interpreted as a pro-capitalist motive), the so-called “red koliadky” were addressing free proletarians and celebrating the birth of the “new [communist] world”. The glorification of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God turned into the glorification of communist leaders – Lenin and Stalin. The absurdness of such plot twists can be tracked in the so-called “red songbooks”, where numerous examples can be found.
For example, here is the text of one of the most famous Ukrainian koliadka, “Good evening to your, dear host”:
Good evening to you, dear host, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
Lay out the tables and everywhere with carpets, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
Do bake the cakes with the new spring wheat, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
For shall there come onto you,
et three feasts as guests, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
And what is this “irst feast, but the birth of Christ, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
And what is the second feast, but of Saint Basil, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
And yet there’s the third feast of Holy Baptism, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
And what of this “irst feast, will send you great joy, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
And what of the second feast,
will send you good fortune, rejoice!
Rejoice, the world, the Son of God is born!
In the Soviet version, the address to the master of the house was replaced with “free proletarian” and the birth of Jesus Christ – with the birth of a “new world”:
Good evening to you, free proletarian, rejoice!
Rejoice, the earth,
A new world is born.
The names of Ukrainian holidays: the birth of Christ, the feast of Saint Basil, and the feast of Holy Baptism were also replaced with “the first uprising”, May Day, and the holiday of the “Red October, when the bonds fell, When the shackles fell, the Soviets came!”
And here is another well-known carol, “A new joy has been revealed”:
A new joy has been revealed, that never has been before:
Above the manger there’s a bright star shining throughout the whole world.
Where Christ has been born, from the Virgin he is born. Like a man with shroud humbly swaddled.
The shepherds with their lambs before that child Falling down upon their knees,
the King and God they praise.
Angels are singing, glorifying and honouring. As in heaven, so on earth, peace they preach. And we also sing. Glorifying Christ.
Its text was also significantly transformed:
A new soviet has been revealed, that never has been before:
Above the earth, a bright star shining throughout the whole world.
The dawn is ours, the dawn, the red dawn,
With a word, you warm the heart, you overcome the darkness everywhere.
Oh, and over the cities with red flags,
Shine on them beautifully, our red dawn!
The symbolism of the first star as a sign of Christ’s birth was replaced by the symbolism of a five-pointed red star – and that was how Christmas turned red. The Christmas tree was also reborn – but with a completely different mood: with Soviet Christmas decorations, depicting hammers, sickles, Stalin, and Lenin. Switching from a “bourgeois” Christmas to a “proletarian” New Year involved a transformation of public consciousness and the full rejection of both folk and religious traditions. However, in its struggle to destroy religiousness, the Soviet Union caught itself in its own trap, using the same religious methods, such as public manifestations, ritualism, and creating relics. Being rooted in long historical tradition, Ukrainian vertep, Christmas carols, and family tradition resisted – and the majority of Soviet “experiments” remained in the past – and so did the Soviet propaganda.