Quote Originally Posted by Alex80 View Post
First of all "коляда" is slavic word for celebrations of pre-Christmas, Christmas and post-Christmas periods.
On of the most famous rituals of these periods is "колядование". During "колядование" people (usually chindren) visit random houses and sing "blessing" songs in exchange for gifts (usually sweets and candies). These songs are called "колядки" or "колядные песни".
I cannot understand from wiki is "carol" for "колядки" or more common "рождественские/новогодние песни" (which may be something not binded to ritual of "колядование", for example famous "в лесу родилась ёлочка...").
But your song sounds exactly as "колядка" ("...По всем домам мы обходим...").
Indeed, the English "caroling" custom somewhat resembled Halloween trick-or-treating -- one goes from house to house singing, and traditionally the owner of the house was supposed to offer sweets (for children) or an alcoholic drink (for adults). Today, the carolers expect only applause as their reward -- certainly not alcohol, и это жаль...

And completely non-religious "winter songs" such as "Jingle Bells" (originally linked to American Thanksgiving, not Christmas) or "Frosty the Snowman" are nowadays often considered "carols," a word that originally meant religious hymns such as "Silent Night" and "We Three Kings."

P.S. "which may be something not binded to the ritual..." Remember, the verb "to bind" is irregular in the past; thus it should be "something not bound to...". But personally I would prefer to say "something unconnected to" or "something not linked to" -- the verb "bind" suggests a very tight, close, hard-to-separate connection ("the ritual of Christian communion is bound to the Christian doctrine that Jesus was God" -- in that context, "is connected" or "is linked" would almost sound too loose, as though the ritual and the doctrine coincide only by historical accident).