Soot, sweets, a poker (fire iron), banter and dancing… No, this is not a dictionary dictation or a collection of random words, but a brief description of how St Andrew’s Eve was celebrated in Bohuslavshchyna.
When our volunteers made expeditions to the surrounding villages, they often asked residents about their leisure time. Some people recalled local clubs and even theatre groups, others mentioned dancing barefoot in the grass, and many recalled with delight and a smile the winter festivities – St Andrew’s parties on 13 December. These meet-ups were characterised by fascinating customs and rituals: dancing, banter and fun, always with kalyta pastry, various treats. Both boys and girls went out together at these parties. Today we would like to share some memories and stories with you.
“We celebrated on 13 December, St Andrew’s Day, and we ate kalyta. It was a very special pastry,” recalls Anna Narizhna from Ivky.
“My mother used to bake it. The dough was extremely rich: you had to roll out a cake leaf, then make “ears” around the edges, and covered it with a second leaf. And then a hole is made in the middle with a glass. It had to be baked in the oven on a baking tray. Later, the girls and boys would gather for a celebration. The boys would buy sweets, and the girls would prepare snacks for the evening. And then they would gather together. The girls would sit on a poker (fire iron) like they were riding a horse, and they would hang the kalyta from the ceiling so that they could reach it to take a bite. And candies were hanging from those “ears”. One of the guys would be standing there, dressed up in something nasty, with his coat turned out, hat on, and fake moustache. And he holds a cup of soot and a brush (a kind of a thick paintbrush). So you ride on that poker (fire iron) and speak to him: “Kalatinsky, I want to try some kalyta!” And he replies: “Won’t you laugh?”. And he makes you laugh, and if you do, he’ll draw on you with soot. If not, you take the candy with your teeth and tear it off by hand. Then they used to cut kalyta into pieces for everyone to try. And the candies they shared too. Afterwards, we would have dinner there with different snacks and a kind of lemonade, and we didn’t drink any booze back then. The girls would also add a ‘surprise’ dumpling (for instance, with extra salt in it), and hand it secretly to a guy, giggling. We used to party like this! Then we danced and took a walk around.”
Not only girls but also boys loved to go out on St Andrew’s Day, recalls 83-year-old Volodymyr Lykhoshva from Dybyntsi: “Kalyta was a festival. There was a guy named Volodya, a weirdo. He would sit with the ‘mazylo’ (a kind of a brush) and chat to make a girl laugh. And when she laughed, he would ‘ride’ on a poker (fire iron), biting the kalyta. And the kalyta had decorations! Generally speaking, it is a kind of pastry, a shortcake, hanging on a handkerchief, down from the ceiling. And we had to look for sweets for kalyta then. We used to party hard for the festival. I remember, when I was a boy, and the older boys wouldn’t let us in there, but we desperately wanted to! We were still kids, and they were already lads! I still remember a story, when one girl was trying to bite the kalyta, and a guy was trying to make her laugh, and she burst out laughing! So then he smeared her with soot all over her face! “Let’s go and bathe her!” That was a moment to remember… Every single year we celebrated! Back then, we only celebrated in our houses, there was no club!”
St Andrew’s parties were also traditional in Semyhory, Bohuslav region. Ms Kateryna told us a bit about the customs of this holiday there: “We had a kalyta. They used to hang it up and then ‘ride up’ and grab it. If you grabbed it quickly, you were lucky, but if you failed, you could even get a slight slap on the wrist. The ‘judge’ was standing next to the Christmas tree, which was decorated with the goodies they had at home. There was no money to buy anything else, so they decorated with pies, and else.”
