Generous Evening and Malanka: what is this holiday and when is it celebrated?

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According to the new calendar, Ukrainians will soon celebrate Generous Evening. Also in the folk calendar, the holiday has another name – Malanka.

When is Generous Evening celebrated?

Generous Evening was celebrated a week after Christmas Eve and Kolyada, that is, on New Year's Eve, December 31.

According to the church calendar, this is the day of the venerable Melania. Later, in folk tradition, several holidays were combined, so the Generous Evening and the feast of Malanka are celebrated on the same day.

However, in some regions of Ukraine, the Generous Evening or “Second Christmas Eve” could be celebrated later.

History of the feast of Malanka

The celebration of the Generous Evening is a remnant of ancient pre-Christian customs. It was believed that on this day Melanka, together with Basil, held feasts and informed the hosts about the festivities.

This explanation was probably the result of a combination of Christian and pre-Christian rites.

According to the traditions of church books, Melania, who is venerated by the church, was born in 383, into the noble family of the city prefect and Ceonia Albina.

From a young age, the girl sought to devote her life to faith, but her parents saw in her daughter a future heiress, so they married Melania to the young man Pinian. Melania's husband wanted to have children, so the girl soon gave birth to a daughter and a son, who died soon after.

Realizing his wife's suffering, Pinian prayed to God to save his wife's life, vowing to live a blameless life. Soon the couple's daughter died – then the saints left Rome and began to help the needy. Since Melania had a huge fortune, the couple built many hospitals and temples.

There was also a myth among the people about Melanka or Milanka – the daughter of the helper of the Moon god. Once she was kidnapped by a fierce snake, taking the girl to the underground kingdom. However, Milanka was freed by Vasyl, who is also commemorated on the Great Evening. These stories became the basis of the scenes for the Malanka ceremony.

The main traditions of the Generous Evening

On the morning of the Generous Evening, a ritual kutya is prepared, which can already be filled with meat products. Also on this day, hearty dishes are prepared from pork, which symbolizes abundance, as well as pies and dumplings with various fillings.

The meal begins with a prayer, and in the evening or the next day, the grandfather who was brought into the house on Christmas Eve is burned – this is how the house was cleansed of evil spirits.

In the evening, young people go to be generous, wishing in ritual songs for a bountiful harvest and prosperity in the coming year. In addition, the night was considered magical, so the girls used to tell fortunes about the future.

The biggest tradition of the Generous Evening was walking with a nativity scene and driving a Goat. It is not known for sure what the rite symbolized. It is assumed that driving a goat was associated with Greek rites for the end of the year and the birth of a new Moon.

According to the plot of the scene, the goat was “dying”, they longed for it and tried to “revive it”. Most of the time it was successful, which probably meant the onset of a new year.

What not to do on the Generous Evening

The Generous Evening had its own prohibitions, which were observed to attract happiness in the coming year. For example, on Malanka you cannot:

• prepare fish dishes for the table – happiness can “fly away”
• celebrate the holiday in dark or dirty clothes
• swear and quarrel
• lend money to someone and count coins
• refuse help
• throw out garbage – you can suddenly take happiness out of the house.