Soroky — the Ancient Ukrainian Festival of Calling the Spring
SorokyIn ancient times, human faith was devoted to honoring nature, since only through it could people of that era survive. With the arrival of spring, our ancestors celebrated Soroky, also called Larks Day or Chuvilky (March 9). It was on this day that people began singing spring songs (vesnianky) and calling forth both spring and the birds returning from their winter migration. Since larks are the first birds to return, housewives baked little bird-shaped pastries shaped like larks, and children would walk through the village tossing them into the air to mimic a bird's flight, singing:
Soroky, an ancient Ukrainian festivalI call the little birds from the warm and distant land, Fly here, nightingales, to our native land! Hurry, little swallows, to tend our cows by hand!
There are also various spring songs (vesnianky), such as this call-and-response:
— Why, little lark, have you flown so early from Vyriy? Snow still lies upon the mountains, Ice still stands in the valleys! — Oh, I will scatter that snow with my wings, Oh, I will trample that ice with my feet!
Soroky, Larks Day, or ChuvilkyThere are records that in some regions, children did not toss these "larks" into the air but instead fastened them to a long stick. There was also a tradition of hanging them on tree branches as a treat for the birds.
It's worth noting that adherents of the old faith associate Soroky with Lada, the goddess of spring, often depicted as a young maiden wearing a wreath on her head. In the Slavic pantheon, Lada is the wife of Svarog, and their children are Lelya (youth and love) and Polel (joy and harmony). The goddess is associated with warmth and light, and is often depicted accompanied by birds, especially larks.
With the spread of Christianity across our lands, the festival was transformed into the Day of the Forty Martyrs, who died for the Christian faith.
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