Vesnianka

The vesnianka (also hayivka or hahilka) is a ritual song of the spring cycle by which a community summoned spring, warmth, and the awakening of nature. Vesniankas were performed mainly by the young — girls led round-dances by the church or on the meadow, combining song with rhythmic movement, games, and playlets ('The Crooked Dance,' 'The Poppy,' 'The Millet'). The songs echo agrarian and love motifs and the magic of fertility. The genre belongs to the oldest strata of Slavic folklore. Vesniankas inspired professional artists: Mykola Lysenko created choral arrangements of them, and the image of the spring-summoning song became a recurring one in the poetry of Lesia Ukrainka and Pavlo Tychyna (the collection 'Clarinets of the Sun'). They were collected by Volodymyr Hnatiuk and Filaret Kolessa.