The doorbell rang, and upon peering through the peep-hole, I saw a group of young girls.
I opened the door and suddenly, they burst into song! It sounded like a cheerful rhyme.
Then, they started throwing seeds into my house!!
I was baffled!
I just stared at them. They stared back. Then they started another song and threw more grain.
"Thank you!" I said, and shut the door quickly.
What the heck??!
So I hopped on google:
"Ukraine throw seeds".... nothing. Maybe it's Russian?
"Russia throwing grain songs"... still nothing.
All of a sudden, I realized it was Christmas Eve! So I typed in:
"Christmas Ukraine seeds tradition" SCORE!
Apparently, I've commited quite the social guffaw.
This is the Ukrainian equivalent of Halloween!
Apparently, during Christmas time, children go around their neighbor's houses (sometimes with fireworks, sometimes dressed up) and sing songs wishing people good health and 'abundant harvest' (hence the grain). I'm supposed to give them coins or treats in return.
They sing songs called 'Koliadky' :
"Radujsia zemle, radujsia. Syn Bozhyj narodyvsia." -- Joy, Earth, Joy. The Son of God was born.
"Dobryj vechir, Sviaty vechir. Dobrym liudiam na zdorovja." -- Good evening, Holy evening. To good people for good health. 
Wow. Talk about culture shock!
(by the way- you may be able to spot the little grains on the floor by the door in the picture!)
LOL. I loved this story. I could see the kids throwing the seeds looking at you looking at them, throwing the seeds...repeat. Ha ha. This was great. Poor kids. Well, at least they don't go TPing your place like they do in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding! The thought of TPing did cross my mind too! Luckily it's an apartment complex! The good news is that by the next round of kids, I had figured it all out and Arun brought home some chocolates!
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