Vechornytsi

Ukrainian traditional parties with music, songs, jokes and rituals. Vechornitsy began in the late September after the seasonal agricultural works were over. Young people from Ukrainian villages gathered in the evenings and had parties. There were everyday and festive vechornytsi. During everyday parties people made some work: embroidered towels or made some hand-craft items and entertained themselves with singing songs or joking. During festive vechornitsy rich dinner was cooked, and there was music and dancing. It was the ladies' responsibility to cook a dinner and the men's responsibility to provide everybody with music, alcohol and sweets.

It was a kind of a club for young Ukrainians. They not only entertained each other during long winter evenings, but also met new people, communicated more closely and found partners for family life. Each street in a village had at least one house for vechornytsi. Even small remote farms could have a few houses for parties, because it was a custom that brothers and sisters could not attend the same vechornytsi.

References

* [http://weekly.com.ua/ukr/?art=1166087005 (Ukrainian) Definition of Vechornytsi]

External links

* [http://kievtravel.com.ua/ukrainiantraditions.php The Article on Ukrainian Holidays, Customs and Rituals]