The story of this book began with a notebook.
The notebook began with the tradition of our ancestors to compose and record plesi and kolyda songs, and during the holidays to visit every house in the village with them, bringing the spirit of Christmas through music and shared rituals.
We want to tell you about a young man whose love of tradition prompted the question:
«Where is our notebook?»
The village of Kryvorivnya is located in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
This place has long attracted prominent figures such as Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Stanislav Vincenz, Mykhailo Kotsyubinsky, and Sergei Parajanov.
It is from these places that the notebook in question originates. The village is divided into several hamlets, each of which has its own group of carollers, called a ‘tabora’. Each tabora has its own leader, called a ‘bereza’. It is he who keeps the notebook with carols and pleys, which is then passed down from generation to generation.
The compiler of the book we are discussing asks where the main notebook belonging to his camp is located. However, it turns out that the notebook disappeared back in the 2000s.
This is what prompted the young author to find, collect, compile and supplement the recordings so that they could be heard not only in Hutsulshchyna, but also beyond its borders.
May tradition bring the spirit of Christmas to your home, and may music and shared rituals spread far and wide.
So that they don't get lost.
