18 Terespol caroling has reached maturity, eighteen years of the Festival is a made-up brand, a faithful audience and a certain artistic level. At the two-day meeting with the East Slavic Carol, in a full hall, 27 vocal bands, parish choirs, singing groups from Poland, including from Podlasie and Chelmszczyzna, Ukraine and Belarus, presented themselves.

The Festival in Terespol, it turns out, is a great school for parish choirs, which from year to year raise their level to perform as best as possible in front of the local audience. It is worth noting the good performance of the choirs of the Orthodox Parish of St.John the Theologian of Chelm and the Parish of The Cover of Mary the Theotokos of Kobylany. Both groups were able to exploit the potential of each chorister and harmoniously rip the voices. They beautifully presented Ukrainian Carols, cultivating the rich tradition of orthodox melodies of their region. Natalia Iwaniuk – conductor from Kobylany, emphasizes the importance in her work of using and saving the legacy left behind by a long-time kobylian psalmist, Piotr Lastowski, no longer living a participant in the first editions of the festival.

"Colors of Orthodoxy". Serbia.

During the festival auditions in Terespol, a photographic exhibition was presented Colors of Orthodoxy. SerbiaIt was created from a rich collection of photographs of the ORTHPHOTO.NET. The exhibition is a themed journey about the colors of Orthodoxy in the cradle of Slavic orthodoxia – in Serbia.

All choirs and bands that performed at the 18th edition of the festival can also be listened to on the website orthodox.fm – Orthodox Media Portal of the Lublin-Chelm Diocese

Terespol audience at the 18th edition of the festival
Already traditional festival announcers - Anna Jawdosiuk-Malek and Jerzy Horbowiec
And, of course, volunteers without whom the festival could not take place

Preserving the beautiful caroling traditions of Podlasie and Chelmszczyzna, but also “praising” them in the national forum, sets itself the goal of the Student Choir of st/Tatiana at the Orthodox Parish of St. John Climacus at Warsaw’s Wola. Orthodox students of the capital’s universities (many from the Nadbuzanskie parishes) spoke in Terespol for the first time, proving that being far away from home, you can also serve your “little homeland”.

Nuns from the Women’s Monastery of The Cover of Mary the Theotokos in Turkowice also made their debut on the Terespol stage. At the head of sister Euphalia, nuns presented christmas carols: Ukrainian “Po wsiomu switu”, Serbian “O radosne vesti”, Polish “V Zlobie lezy” and stichira of Lord’s Nativity to byzantine melody. With their performance, they introduced the audience to an ascetic atmosphere of contemplation of the great event: The Nativity of God on Earth.

Anna Jawdosiuk Malek

The atmosphere of joy and family celebration of Christmas was created in Terespol by bands from Ukraine. The Female Choir “Lira” and the bandurists from “Zorianycya” (both bands from Lviv) ended the first day of the festival, together with the audience performing the carol “Boh sia razdaye”, for which the audience did not spare the applause. Sunday’s meeting, on the other hand, was crowned by the Choir of the Cathedral of All Volhynian Saints of Lutsk “Volhynian Bells”, wishing all the gathered “mnogih lit” in happiness and health.

Author: Anna Jawdosiuk-Małek

Organizers