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Overview of the role of Christmas in Ukraine

Traditional Ukrainian Christmas festivities start on Christmas Eve, which is celebrated on 6 January, as reckoned by the Julian calendar. The Christmas celebrations end on 19 January, the date of Epiphany, or Yordan in Ukrainian, by the Julian calendar.[4]

As of 2017, 25 December, Christmas day by the Gregorian calendar, became an official government holiday in Ukraine. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Churches predominantly follow the Julian Calendar, and 7 January is also a public holiday in Ukraine.[5][6] In December 2020, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphanius, said that changing the date of Christmas to 25 December in Ukraine is possible after both the church and the faithful are ready for such a decision, after conducting educational work. It was stated that the postponement of the Nativity of the Lord would entail a change in the dates of all fixed holidays to 13 days ago.[7] In December 2020, the head of the UGCC, Patriarch Sviatoslav, stated that the Greek Catholic Church would resolve this issue "together with our Orthodox brothers." He also noted that this issue is not dogmatic, it should overcome church divisions, not cause new ones, and in his opinion, the transition to celebrating Christmas in a new style 25 December, should be initiated by the laity.

Christmas Eve, or as its called Sviatyi Vechir or Sviatvechir in Ukrainian ("Holy Evening") is filled with numerous customs and rituals. Traditions include decorating house and dinner table with special attributes (a symbolic sheaf of wheat called the didukh, garlic, hay, and others), performing koliadky ('carols') and so on. Each ritual has its own meaning and purpose, as such a few wisps of hay on the embroidered tablecloth as a reminder of the manger in Bethlehem. One prominent customs of the night is a special supper, called Sviata Vecheria ("Holy Supper").[citation needed]

Whole family brings together to have a dinner which includes 12 dishes. These twelve dishes traditionally do not contain meat, milk, or eggs when served for this meal. [8]Kutia (sweet grain pudding) is traditionally served at the Ukrainian Christmas dinner table. It is often the first dish in the traditional twelve-dish Christmas-Eve supper and is rarely served at other times of the year.[9]

At the end of the Sviata Vechera the family often sings carols (koliadky, singular koliadka). In many communities the ancient Ukrainian tradition of caroling is carried on by groups of young people and members of organizations and churches calling at homes and collecting donations. Well-known carol is "Boh predvichnyi narodyvsia".[10]

When the children see the first star in the eastern evening sky, the dinner may begin. In farming communities the head of the household brings in a sheaf of wheat called the didukh which represents the importance of the ancient and rich wheat crops of Ukraine, the staff of life through the centuries. Didukh means literally "grandfather spirit" so it symbolizes the family's ancestors. In city homes a few stalks of golden wheat in a vase are often used to decorate the table, they also decorate the dinner table with garlic.

A shopka is a traditional portable nativity scene used to represent nativity and other figures in a puppet form.

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Christmas in Ukraine - Wikipedia