Winter Holidays in Western Ukraine

Well, if you're lucky (or unlucky?) enough to be living in the West of Ukraine (especially in the regions of L'viv – called Lemberg by the Germans and Austrians, as it was once the part of Austro-Hungarian Empire – and Ivano-Frankivsk), you will probably get your presents three times. I mean, if you have been a good boy or a good girl, of course.

At first, in the night of December 18th to December 19th , there comes the Saint Nicholas . Yes, THE Saint Nicholas, by whom the whole Santa Claus cult was actually inspired. So, in a way, it is the „original“ Santa. Saint Nicholas („svyatyy Mykolay“) is dressed as a christian bishop with miter and canonical robes, no funny red-and-white costume, no bits and pieces whatsoever.
The real Saint Nicholas was a 4th century bishop in Lycia, a Byzantine province, who used to help the poor and needy and was so generous that he became a legend. One of his most memorable deeds was providing dowry for three daughters of an impoverished but pious man, so that they would't have to become prostitutes to earn the living. St. Nicholas really DID help people, as you can see.
Anyway, the kids are awaiting their Mykolay impatiently. He usually comes at night (hmmm, does it remind me of something?..) and puts the gifts under the pillow. If the gift is too bulky, though, he just leaves it beside the bed.
St. Nicholas Day is also celebrated in Germany and some other european countries, but, as far as I know, nowhere is he so popular as in Western Ukraine. However, in Western Europe St. Nicholas Day is on December the 6th, and in Ukraine it's 13 days later, because the Orthodox church never adopted the Gregorian calendar (now being used almost all over the world). The Gregorian calendar is, of course, being used in the secular sphere, but the church still follows the old, Julian one. The most popular church in Western Ukraine is actually the Greek Catholic or Uniate Church (although there are many Orthodox believers), which recognizes the Pope as its head, preserves nevertheless the orthodox rite and worship. So the calendar they use is still the Julian. But we better move on before it gets too complicated.

The second gift-bringing holiday is the New Year. In Ukraine and other former Soviet republics it is being celebrated excessively and has a far greater importance and popularity then in the West. One of the explanations I see is that during the Soviet era New Year had a compensatory function for all the religious holidays people weren't allowed to celebrate. It is a night when both children and adults get their presents. New Year's Eve is a completely profane holiday and still has a bit of that „Soviet touch“, so some religious families don't celebrate it at all – for them it's just a beginning of a new year in the calendar, some formal date, so what? Christmas is all that matters. But we aren't that far yet.
In the New Year's night there are parties everywhere, with lots of food and – you've already guessed – tons of alcohol. People gather at home with friends or go out in order to say good bye to the old year and to greet the new one, that surely will be better than all its predecessors. First you drink to the expiring year and that it should take ALL the troubles with it and never come back. Then you clink glasses as the clock strikes twelve. Than you drink to the newborn year and to that it will be much better than the old one. Then you drink to the health of all your friends and relatives and wish they will be much happier this year than they were ever before. Then you drink to... and so on, and so forth. Not getting drunk that night is regarded as breaking the tradition. Everybody does. Well, almost everybody.
Adults give presents to each other and the children get their New Year gifts from Father Frost („Ded Moroz“), a traditional russian (not ukrainian) character somewhat similar to the Santa Claus. He used to bring presents to the kids during the Soviet time and continues doing it today. He drops his gifts under the Christmas tree, which is more of a New Year's tree actually, for the Christmas is still to come. As I've already mentioned, in the USSR there was NO Christmas, but since people DO need presents and nice holiday traditions, the tree has usually been decorated at December 31st and remained until the December 14th ; and maybe there even appeared some Christmas presents under it if the family was celebrating the Nativity secretly...

And, finally, there it comes: Christmas. The Christmas Eve is on January the 6th (because of the church calendar, remember?), that's when the star rose over Bethlehem and Jesus Christ was born. The traditional celebrating includes visiting a church and having a table with twelve different dishes – each in memory of one of the twelve apostles of the Christ. Among these are golubtsi (stuffed cabbage rolls), fish, and the most traditional of all ukrainian dishes – the borscht, which is a beetroot soup with tiny mushroom-filled dumplings swimming in it (instead of meat, which is normally the base of the borscht). Religious people don't eat meat on Christmas Eve, as the fasting oficially ends only on January the7th, when you're finally allowed to eat your ham&steaks.
So who does bring the presents this time? I am not quite sure myself. But the popular version is – the biblical Magi, the Three Wise Men, the Three Kings from the East, however you name them. They were the first to worship the Christ and to bring him symbolical presents: gold (representing Jesus' kingship), frankincense (representing his role as the priest) and myrrh (to represent Jesus' role as saviour, for his ultimate purpose was to sacrifice himself to redeem the mankind). So now they are coming to children. Again, if they were behaving themselves. But I guess most parents don't take it too strictly. By the way, the Three Kings' Day is still being celebrated in Spanish-speaking countries on the 6th of January, the catholic day of Epiphany.

But we're not through yet. The winter holidays actually end only after January the 19th, when ukrainians celebrate the Epiphany – the Baptism of Christ. In the time between Christmas and Epiphany people greet each other with the words „Christ has been born!“; the answer is „praise Him!“. The Epiphany, for some reason, is being especially gladly celebrated in the countryside.

So, I'll summarize: from December 31th till January 20th the whole Western Ukraine is in state of emergency. And although all the days except January the 1st and January the 7th are actually working days, nothing goes during these three weeks. So if you have some important things to be done – don't hope you'll solve it until ALL the holidays are over. And please, try not to get ill in that time.

You better don't.

Lucy Shnyr
(link to article page / permalink)