birthday game

[Peter&Susan Fischer]

Fellow Seelangovtsy:

Never having observed or participated in a Russian children's birthday
party, I found the discussion of "Kak na XYZ-iny imeniny, ispekli my
karavay..." both interesting and enlightening.  As it happens, the
question of Russian birthday rituals came up not long ago in one of my
Russian classes, and "karavay" gives me the opportunity to revisit
"imeniny" with that class.

And that brings up another question I'm sure to be asked:  Is karavay
sung to a familiar tune, on the order of our "Happy Birthday to you...",
or are the words just sort of chanted as the khorovod goes around and
through its motions?  One other thing:  As I recall, the basic khorovod
goes around counterclockwise, or am I wrong?  I've got some jolly,
playful souls in that class and they're likely to want to give the game
a try at the very next birthday opportunity.

Spasibo zaranee.
Peter Fischer