Koza Dereza Doll Talisman

Description

Once upon a time there lived an Old Man and an Old Woman. One day the Old Man went to a fair and he bought a Goat. He took the Goat home and early the next morning told his eldest son to take it out to graze. The youth grazed the Goat till evening and then drove it home. He drove it straight to the gate, and the Old Man stood there in his red boots and said: “Tell me, Little Goat, tell me, Nibbly-Quibbly, have you had enough to eat and to drink?” “No, Grandpa, I have not drunk or eaten,” the Goat replied.

The Bully Goat is a Ukrainian folktale that tells a story about a mean and cunning goat. Through her tricks she turned an old man away from his sons and his wife. When he finally realized how bad and manipulative she was it was too late! And then she marched right into the little rabbit’s house and took it over! Many animals tried to get her to leave. Which one of them managed to chase the bully goat away? You can listen to the story in Ukrainian here or watch it here or you can read the full story here.

Goats are also seen during the Winter Season during Ukrainian Carolling. This was not a simple singing of Christmas songs; it was more of a folk opera. The carolers first had to ask for permission to sing. If the answer was yes, they entered the house and sang carols for each member of the family, even for the smallest child. Sometimes they even performed slow ritualistic dances. They also had to present a short humorous skit involving the goat. The custom of the goat accompanying the carolers has its origin in the pagan times when the goat represented the god of fertility. The skit showed the goat dying and then being brought back to life. This also symbolized the death of Winter and the birth of Spring. The Goat—a youth wearing an inverted sheepskin coat and a mask resembling a goat’s head—entered a house, bowed to the head of the household, and performed a ritual dance to bring about an abundant harvest. The other youths sang an accompanying ditty: ‘De Koza khodyt’, tam zhyto rodyt’, de Koza tup-tup, tam zhyta sim kup’ (Where the Goat goes, there wheat grows; where the Goat stamps its feet, there are seven sheaves of wheat). A dramatization of a goat being pursued by hunters and wolves, killed, and gutted followed. At the singers’ call ‘Bud’, Kozo, zhyva!’ (Come alive, Goat!) the Goat rose from the dead and returned to its ‘field,’ which then came to life (as acted out by the chorus).

The game ended with the Goat delivering a wish: ‘Shchob ts’omu hospodariu i korovky buly nevrochlyviï i molochlyviï, i oves—samosii, i pshenytsia—sochevytsia’ (May this farmer’s cattle be unbedeviled and full of milk, and may his oats sow themselves and his wheat be of the best sort). In the Hutsul region the Goat was ‘led around’ by children, who ‘sowed’ grain kernels throughout the house; the Goat’s ears were made of grain spikes. Occasionally, the Goat was accompanied by others disguised as the Old Man, Malanka (the New Year’s Eve maiden), the Bear, and other characters. The original purpose of Koza was the same as that of carols: to invoke a successful year for the peasant household. With time, belief in its magical function disappeared, and the game became simply a form of entertainment in the repertoires of Christmas parties.

You will receive 1 beautiful handmade goat doll talisman that was imported from Ukraine.