Men’s group Colindat, Christmas-time ritual

Overview

Each year before Christmas, groups of young men gather in villages throughout Romania and the Republic of Moldova to prepare for the ritual of Colindat. On Christmas Eve, they go from house to house performing festive songs. Afterwards, the hosts offer the singers ritual gifts and money. The songs have an epic content, which is adapted to each host’s individual circumstances. Ritual performers also sing special, auspicious songs for unmarried girls and dance with them – a practice said to help them find a husband within the next year. Colindat is sometimes performed in costume, with instrumental accompaniment and choreography. Groups of young men (traditionally unmarried) are the main bearers and practitioners of the element; experienced men, often former group leaders, are responsible for the group’s training. The ritual songs are learned at daily rehearsals from the time the group is...

This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.

Community and Authority

Communities: Moldova, Republic of, Romania
Languages: Not specified in UNESCO dataset
Cultural territories: Moldova, Republic of, Romania
Countries: Moldova, Republic of, Romania

How the System Works

Music, Performance and Oral Literature Language, Story and Memory Material Culture, Design and Technology Food, Agriculture and Seasonal Practice Ceremony, Spirituality and Cosmology Ways of Knowing and Knowledge Transmission

Sources and Evidence

Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ListsDataset

Open original source record

Field-Level Provenance

title: UNESCO DataHub field title_en
preferredTitle: UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
summary: UNESCO DataHub field description_en
type: UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
countries: UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
categories: ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
relationships: UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
sourceUrl: UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
rights: UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url

Original Source Metadata

uuid2796889a-84b0-4be2-b061-d9efe9099002

ich_public_ref865

inscription_year2013

title_enMen’s group Colindat, Christmas-time ritual

title_frLe colindat de groupe d’hommes, rituel de Noël

type_of_element_enRepresentative List

type_acronymRL

countriesMD, RO

http_url_enhttps://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/00865

concepts_primary_namesChoir singing, Religious practice

concepts_secondary_namesChoreography, Christianity, Costumes, Dance, Epic poetry, Food, Musical instruments, Prosperity ritual, Single persons

main_image_urlhttps://ich.unesco.org/img/photo/thumb/08127-LRG.jpg

main_image_caption_enNot supplied

main_image_copyrightby National Museum of Romanian Peasant

main_image_authorMarius Caraman

videoshttps://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/q6tnJkybN_U

images[object Object], [object Object], [object Object]

Why This Record Is Credible

This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.

Cultural Access

Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.

Relationships

Choir singing Religious practice Choreography Christianity Costumes Dance Epic poetry Food Musical instruments Prosperity ritual UNESCO representative list

Review and Corrections

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