Krayina Mriy (Country of Dreams) is best known as the folk music festival that takes place in Kyiv each summer.
Its organizers, headed by musician Oleg Skrypka, also frequently hold events in the capital and the rest of the nation to promote Ukrainian history, culture and traditions. This time of year, they are launching a series of Christmas holiday celebrations under the name Vertep (“cave” in Old Slavonic). Since the 17th century, Vertep has come to mean a theatrical form of Christmas caroling.
Krayina Mriy festival is preparing to perform Vertep, a series of traditional Ukrainian winter holiday celebrations, from Dec. 19 until Jan. 19. The celebrations will take place on the Saint Sophia Cathedral grounds in central Kyiv. “Vertep,” the Ukrainian name for these performances, will be launched on Saint Nicholas Day [Dec. 19] at 6 p.m. St Sophia Cathedral will host all kinds of holiday performances and activities: dances and caroling, concerts of folk bands, verteps, Walking of the Goat and Ivan and Melanka rites and other entertainment. The second event to take place there will be Christmas in the World, a celebration of the Catholic Christmas on Dec. 25 at 5 p.m. It will be followed by Orthodox Christmas celebrations on Jan. 8 at 5 p.m. Then expect Malanka, aka Old New Year’s Eve, on Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. followed by Saint Vasyl’s Holiday, or Old New Year, on Jan. 15 at 5 p.m. The Christmas festival will close with Vodokhreshcha (Epiphany) on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. with a ritual burning of a “didukh” (a bunch of grain spikes whose name meant “spirit of the ancestors” in Old Slavic). This final concert will feature Oleg Skrypka and Le Grand Orchestra, Maria Burmaka and Taras Chubay. Traditionally, the goal of such a festival is to revive and preserve old Ukrainian traditions, help Ukrainians understand them and integrate them into modern life.
