Afterwards, there were arrests. How Vasyl Stus and Ihor Kalynets went caroling in Lviv.
The nativity play, with around 50 participants, and the loud caroling under the windows. This is how the New Year's and Christmas holidays looked in Lviv in 1972. Poet, prose writer, and political prisoner Ihor Kalynets still remembers how the Ukrainian intelligentsia went from house to house singing carols and "shchedrivky" (traditional New Year songs) and how tragically it ended for many of the nativity play's participants.
In the photo:Front row, standing, from left to right: 1 - German language teacher Lyubov Popadyuk; 3 - Doctor Olena Antoniv; 5 - Artist Iryna Vinnytska.On the right: 5 - Artist Maria Savka.Sitting squatting, from left to right: 2 - Artist Stefania Shabatura, wearing a hat and fake mustache; 3 - Artist Maria Tarnavska; 5 - Actor Ivan Havrylyuk.
Ihor Kalynets has compiled a collection of episodes from the famous carol of 1972, which can now be viewed on the website of the Center for Urban History. In addition to Ihor Kalynets himself, the collection features artists Bohdan Soroka and his wife Lyuba, dissident Yaroslav Kendzyor, and even independence fighter Vasyl Stus. The photographer is Yaroslav Lemyk.
The photos were "decoded" and the identities of the people present were established by regional historian and expert from the Center for Urban History of Central and Eastern Europe, Iryna Kotlobulatova.
"I remember how much time I spent on those photos! To decode them, I had to ask many of the participants. I managed to uncover something. The photos are from Ihor Kalynets' album. There are outdoor shots, in costumes. Many people are featured in the photos, including Vasyl Stus, who was in Lviv at the time," Iryna Kotlobulatova tells Tvoemisto.tv.
In the photo, from left to right: 1 - German teacher and active samizdat distributor Lyubov Popadyuk; 2 - Unknown; 3 - Poet Vasyl Stus; 4 - Doctor Olena Antoniv; 5 - Psychologist Mykhailo Horyn.
Ihor Kalynets says that the 1971 and 1972 carolers' performances were hard to call a traditional "vertep."
"Rather, it was a gathering of young people who wanted to sing Christian carols and 'shchedrivky.' We learned that similar gatherings had been happening in Kyiv for a few years, so we decided to do the same. Our organizer was Olena Antoniv. Over two weeks, she gathered everyone who could sing or write lyrics. She played the piano herself, and we sang," recalls Ihor Kalynets.
According to him, they held such caroling events for two years, in 1971 and 1972. However, not on Christmas but on New Year's Eve.
"During the Christmas holidays, everyone was busy—some studying, others working, and there was also the issue of persecution. So we gathered on December 31st and spent the whole evening and night caroling. There were about 50 people in total. People dressed however they wanted—some in folk costumes, others dressed as different characters, while the rest wore whatever they had. Personally, I had a 'goat' that rattled when you pulled the string," continues Ihor Kalynets.
They caroled all over Lviv. Sometimes they took a tram, but mostly they walked. Ihor Kalynets shares that, initially, they would find out who would be okay with them visiting for the caroling, and they would go there.
In the photo: Ihor and Iryna Kalynets, artists Stefania Shabatura and Maria Savka, psychologist Mykhailo Horyn and his wife, educator Olha Horyn, educator and literary critic Volodymyr Ivanyshyn, doctor Olena Antoniv, Maria Kovalska, artist Yaroslav Matselyukh, teacher Lyubomyra Popadyuk, artist Bohdan Soroka with his wife Lyuba, Roman and Lesya Leschuk, Maria Hel, Maryan Hatal, Yaroslav Lemyk, Stepan Bedrylo, Lyubomyr Krys, Raisa Moroz, Mykola Bilous, Yaroslav Kendzor, actor Ivan Harylyuk, and others.
"We visited various addresses — friends, relatives, comrades, well-known architects, respected doctors, professors, university rectors. We carolled, sang carols, and led Malanka under their windows or on the doorstep. And all of this was from December 31st to January 1st. During this time, we had nothing to fear, because who would bother a crowd of 50 people in the streets? Perhaps there were ‘spies’ who had infiltrated our group, but no one from the outside was present," recalls the poet.
Ihor Kalynets shares that 1972 was memorable because Vasyl Stus joined them for caroling. He had just returned from treatment in Morshyn.
According to the speaker, the hosts often showed their gratitude for the caroling — some with treats, others by putting a bottle of wine or money into the bag.
All the collected funds were kept by Ihor Kalynets. It was in 1972 that the money he collected was later shared between the families of those who were imprisoned on January 12th for "the production, distribution, and storage of defamatory literature, participation in Christmas caroling, and hostility toward the Soviet socialist system."
On the photo: from left to right, sculptor Maria Savka-Kachmar, poet Irina Kalynets, poet Vasyl Stus.
"There were many searches and arrests. We didn't collect much money, but everything went to the lawyers," he added.
Now, according to Ihor Kalynets, everything is in its place—kolyadky are sung at Christmas, Malanka is performed on New Year's Eve, and at Epiphany, people sing shchedrivky.
Today, it's not hard to find a vertep in Lviv. And although the words of the carols from those times have practically not changed, Ihor Kalynets says that he would still like to return to that time and feel the spirit of Christmas of those days.
Olha Shveda
Photos provided by Iryna Kotlobulatova.