This publication is a significant monument to Ukrainian spiritual and musical traditions. It contains the texts of carols and shchedrivky (New Year’s Eve carols), which are integral to Ukrainian Christmas celebrations and deeply rooted in the history of the people. The book demonstrates a richness of imagery, the poetic nature of the language, and the depth of the religious content found in Christmas folklore, preserving a valuable part of Ukraine’s intangible heritage. It was published by the Printing House of the Greek Catholic Chapter in Przemyśl, which became a notable center of Ukrainian spiritual and cultural revival during the interwar period.
This specific copy belonged to the library of the Liskevych family. During the forced resettlement of 1945, Petro Liskevych managed to transport his private book collection from Jarosław (Poland) to Sambir, which included several publications on folklore. The family hid these books and secretly distributed them among the youth of Sambir, helping to strengthen Ukrainian national consciousness and preserve historical memory and spiritual traditions.
The book features a soft beige binding with an image in a rectangular frame depicting Jesus Christ and a woman in the mountains; on both sides of the slopes are the Holy Fathers, with a temple building between them. The signatures ’Liskevych’ appear in ink and pencil on the binding and the title page. The book consists of 66 pages.