from the Kitka recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UlFnZ3xQc

" OJ, JAK ŽE BULO IZPREŽDY VIKA (Oh, how it was before time began)

"Gruzky village, Kyiv-Svyatošinskyi district, Ukraine
from the repertoire of Žyvytsia arr. Kelly Atkins, inspired by an interpretation by the Eteria Choir of L’viv

" In pre-Christian Ukraine, the holiday of Koliada was celebrated at the Winter Solstice before its rituals were absorbed into festivities surrounding Christmas. Koliada marked and celebrated the mystical birth of the world. This beloved creation carol is still sung around Ukrainian Christmas Eve feast tables. ...

"Heartfelt thanks to Nadia Tarnawsky for translation assistance."

OH, HOW IT WAS BEFORE TIME BEGAN

Refrain: Oh, God, let it be...
When there was no sky and earth
When there was only the blue sea
Lights burned on that sea
And the holy ones sat around the lights
Holding a council to decide whom to send into the sea.
'Oh, go, sister, to the bottom of the sea
And bring back some golden sand.
Let us sow it all over the world
 So that the sky and earth will be born.
The sky full with stars, and the earth covered with flowers'

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Monique has kindly transcribed the Cyrillic script verses of an old carol, OJ, JAK ŽE BULO IZPREŽDY VIKAOH (HOW IT WAS BEFORE TIME BEGAN) (OY, YAK ZHE BULO IZPREZHDY VIKA according to Google transliteration. I copied her html codes and tried it out on the test thread
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=42563
It turned out okay apart from a missing line break, but when I tried to make a correction, the next pasting showed the html script rather than Cyrillic. So if you want to read the Cyrillic, either look at the notes on the Youtube page or refer to first my message (#13) on the html test page - for the time-being, anyway