Hrodna youth organize Christmas Eve celebration (photo)
They used a minibus instead of a sleigh, and sang carols into intercoms, not under windows. Other attributes - a she-goat, a star and a sack- were real.
Hrodna youth started going around people's houses on the Catholic and Orthodox Christmas Eve since early 90s. It were the members of numerous patriotic and local history clubs who did it then. Several generations of carol-singers changed for the twenty years, and the squad of the group is constantly updating. This year, about 20 youngsters got together to congratulate the city inhabitants on Christmas.
Before the event, the participants prepare costumes, divide the roles and learn the songs. When it comes closer to the evening, they go out to the city: they walk around the city center, visit suburbs and private sections.
"We visit those people whom we had visited before, who liked it, who invited us to come again. We also visit our new acquaintances, and try to knock on the doors of totally unfamiliar people if we see the light in the windows, and signs that people are going to celebrate and to welcome us - Christmas decorations, festive tables and people who sit at them", - says a carol-singer with 5 years of experience Yury Sedzyaneuski.
The carol-singers show a whole mini-performance in each house. The participants greet the host, the hostess and their kids. Then it's time for the she-goat - she jumps and sings but then suddenly falls down. The animal says that she would not be able to get up without gifts and treats. People give her sausages, sweets and money. Common consumption of the obtained food is another old custom, which the carol-singers from Hrodna keep.
Yury Sedzyaneuski says that Christmas Eve celebration is a way to make a holiday for oneself and one's friends in the first place. Our ancient traditions help that:
"If you consider yourself a Belarusian, you need not just to know how they celebrated Christmas Eve in the past but to do something yourself. Not to say what songs you know, but to sing. There is a warm and pleasant feeling when you deal with scenarios and songs. Naturally, such events also mean new friends, sharing our experience with young people, who look at this all with their eyes open, the same as I did 5 years ago. I wanted to find out all about this then", - summarizes Yury.
