In Ukraine train Koliadky have been sung since pre-Christian times in
Kievan Rus'. Those songs were used with ritual purposes. In early times, koliadky expressed ancient people's ideas about creation, natural phenomena, and the structure of the world. With the advent of Christianity, the content of koliadky began to acquire the relevant religious meaning and features. Now koliadky are mostly Christmas carols, which tell of the birth of Jesus Christ and biblical stories that happened in connection with the event. Heathen roots are still there. In Ukraine under the Soviet rule, organized public singing of koliadky (
vertep) on Christmas Eve was persecuted by authorities, so it frequently took place on the night before the
New Year instead. In some cases people taking part in such events would be arrested by the
KGB for "hooliganism". Especially notable were the mass arrests which took place on 1 January 1972 and targeted participants of a festive procession accompanied by koliadka singing, which took place in central
Lviv and was led by
Ihor and
Iryna Kalynets. Despite repression, the traditions of koliadka and vertep survived both among the rural and urban population in
Western Ukraine, and in 1986 reached the local theatre scene. Koliadka performances even spread to Soviet prison camps, where many Ukrainian
dissidents were held at the time. Among others,
Myroslav Marynovych organized the singing of koliadky with fellow inmates after his imprisonment in 1978. Starting from 1988, koliadka singing and vertep performances in Lviv were official permitted by authorities through the efforts of
Lion's Society, although some elements of the processions, such as figures of
angels, were still banned by the Communist regime. Starting from the 1990s the tradition of koliadka and vertep theatre has also seen a revival in other regions of Ukraine, including
Kyiv. ==Typology and structure==