Tower and Town, December 2023

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A Ukrainian Christmas

Every single Christmas Eve reminds us about raising a new light, a new life, a new hope; but what can be even more important is reminding ourselves about the strong link between past and future.

Christmas time is the best time to be with the people you love, to feel their warm hearts and caring hands. But what if you are far from your family, what if families are separated from each other, what if you can’t give a hug to your parents or siblings? What if there is a war?

Preserving and transmitting traditions is the best way to stay connected with your family, even though we are far from them. This year lots of Ukrainian families are still not with their beloved people. But cooking traditional meals and celebrating Christmas in a traditional way might help them to feel the spirit of a family holiday.

Visiting almost every Ukrainian family on Christmas Eve you will see lots of treats; we are really fond of cooking! But the first and the main one is “kutia”. Made of boiled wheat, poppy seeds, honey, nuts and raisins, it is a very symbolic meal for our people. We take three spoons of this dish and then we start our Christmas Dinner. Wheat and seeds symbolize immortal life and rebirth. Like a little seed that can wait for the  first warm rays of the sun and germinate in spring, our souls are reborn in a new body after  death. Only after kutia can we start Christmas Dinner. As a rule, it consists of twelve meat-free dishes. They represent the twelve apostles – the followers of Jesus Christ. It is the happiest part of the day; every house is filled with the hustle and bustle of big families and the smells of delicious dishes.

But what we all love the most are Christmas carols! Noisy and cheerful groups of children and adults wearing homemade costumes go from one house to another to congratulate the families, to wish them good health, wealth and prosperity. In gratitude for this the owner of the house treats them and gives some money.  Shepherds, angels, devils - whoever you see among them! These traditional Ukrainian Christmas Carols are called ‘Colyadky’.

Yuliia Martynova