Slavic Winter Solstice | Kolyada | Pagan Art Tales Ep. 1

Greetings ⋆꙳·❅*‧
I'm Anastasia, and this is the first episode of the pagan painting series.
This video is about the slavic winter solstice,”Kolyada” (cyr: Коляда) or in it’s other name “Korochun”. This ancient pagan winter festival was christianized and is celebrated up to this day in Ukraine and other slavic countries.

Much like other pagan cultures, the Slavs celebrated the agricultural transitions of the year: Kolyada At the Winter Solstice, Komoeditsa at the Spring Equinox, Kupala at the Summer Solstice and had Harvest festivals at Autumn equinox.

❅Disclaimer❅- There is very little original written resources about the Slavic pantheon since the Slavs did not document themselves. The main resources are external documentations, which were not prejudice free. Due to late Christinization, a lot of pagan traditions are still present in Christian or folklorist disguise, such as in many other cultures.

I will encounter lots of myths and pagan cultures in future videos, but I wanted to start the series from my own origins first, as an Ukranian-Jew (Secular), the Slavic mythology is the natural step.
The technique I used is soft pastels and acrylic paint on raw canvas.

If you want to see some more pagan inspired art, you are welcome to check my Instagram page (which has such paintings from all the way up to 2018).

IG:   / anastasia.kostyu  

TT: anastasia.kostyu

❅MUSIC❅
Freedom - by SoulProdMusic.
Music Link httpsbit.ly3CkncRh

Fjall-Ivan Duch

❅Chapters:❅
0:00 - Intro
0:40 - The Slavic Winter Solstice
1:23 - Ancient Traditions
3:20 - The Modern Kolyada
3:53 - Outro

❅Resources❅

Ф.С. Капица - Славянские традиционные верования, праздники и ритуалы
(F.C. Kapitsa - Slavic Traditional beliefs, festivals and rituals) (2011)

Борис Александрович Рыбаков - Язычество древних славян
(Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov - Paganism of the ancient Slavs) (1981)

Juan Antonio Alvarez- Pedrosa and Enrique Santos Marinas - Rituals in Slavic pre-Christian religion festivals, banqueting, and divination (2023)

The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 (Novgorod First Chronicle Text)

And some stories from my Babushka:)


Thank you for watching this video ♡
Yuletide blessings to all!