Bestiary · Slavic · Winter solstice deity
Kolyada
Also known as: Koleda, Kolęda, Kolenda
The Slavic midwinter festival and its personification, greeted with carols (kolyadki), sowing of grain and the Yule log.
Kolyada is the midwinter festival of the Slavs and the being it is named after, the newborn sun of the winter solstice. At Kolyada young people went round the houses singing the kolyadki carols, people "sowed" the house with grain for a good harvest, burned the Yule log and held the holy supper. Afanasyev finds in the kolyadki echoes of the old gods and of the myth of the sun reborn.