Colindă

Colindă (pl. colinde; also colind, pl. colinduri) are traditional Romanian Christmas carols.

Origins

Although the text of all colinde is concerned with the events of the Nativity^{[citation needed]}, certain elements of the folk rituals performed around Christmas are probably pre-Christian in origin, having their roots in the Roman Saturnalia and pagan rituals related to the winter solstice and soil fertility.

Colinde are performed in all parts of Romania (including Moldova), with regional variations in terms of number of participants, exact timing of different melodies and lyrics.

In traditional Romanian rural society, preparations for colinde started well in advance (sometimes weeks) before Christmas. The village youth (usually boys) would begin to form groups in different places and designate a leader in order to practice singing in unison. These groups are called cete de colindători, and their numbers vary from region to region. Then, starting on Christmas Eve, the groups would go to different houses and begin singing. In some villages, they go first to the mayor's house, followed by the teacher's house, whereas in other parts there is no pre-established order. The families would then invite them into the house, and give them different small gifts such as nuts, dried fruits and pretzels.

Examples of colinde with religious subject are "Astăzi s-a născut Hristos" (Today Christ was born), "Moş Crăciun cu plete dalbe" (Santa Claus with white hair) and "O, ce veste minunată!"(O, what wonderful news!).

See also

• Koleda, a similar Slavic Christmas tradition
• Shchedryk, an Ukrainian New Year carol

External links

• http://www.angelfire.com/folk/colinde/ -- contains examples of a few colinde performed by a children's choir
• http://www.radiocolinde.com --Radio Colinde, Christmas Radio Stations.