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CHRISTMAS
Christmas is celebrated in Ukraine in much the same way as in Poland but you can also find many differences (larger and smaller) between the holiday in these two countries.
These differences are closely linked with faith, the church that are dominant in the areas of our countries.
The main difference is the fact that the Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas two weeks later than the Catholic church.
It’s connected with Julian calendar which is a little out of Gregorian and which is still used by many people of national Orthodox Churches. To be honest it calls Revised Julian calendar.
But beyond this, you can find many similarities. On the Ukrainian, christmas table can also be found twelve typical dishes. Carp of course, too.
When everybody seat around table and when we can see first star on the sky we start share with the Christmas waffer and everybody wish Merry Christmas. But the Ukrainian’s waffer looks different then polish. Ukrainian Christmas waffer is a small muffin, which is crushed into small pieces and during whishes everybody eats it with honey.
In each house we can find a lovely Christmas tree. Decorations are very different : we can find a paper chains, nuts, etc. What is surprising is that there is no gifts under Christmas tree. Although Christmas tree tradition comes from Germany, and it is common both for Poland and Ukraine, there’s mentioned variation – In Ukraina, during Christmas time, people get gifts only from Santa Claus.
During 1st and 2nd Christmas day childrens and adolescents go carols singing. All donations collected in this way are transmitted to the local church. This is another difference, because in Poland, most people involved in carols singing, divided the money among themselves. But there are still two ways to help your church in Christmas time.
The first is “wertep”. This is a group of people (usually children)0 dressed in different costumes. We can find there. We can find among them the devil, an angel, King Herod… There’s also a person dressed up as death. They usually play a Nativity scene and few others - of course, related to Christmas.
The second is custom realted with brass which same as “wertep” collect money for church. And, of course, brass plays tunes associated with the Christmas - most carols.
Noteworthy Epiphany, which Ukrainians celebrates in a slightly different way than in the Catholic Church. On sixth January priest with the procession go to the river. Priest hallows the water from an icehole and bless the procession. After this ritual, all gathered can draw water from icehole and take it home where it will be honorary position as a symbol of happiness and prosperity. Host gives often this water to drink to animals in the hope that it will grow healthy.
And finally – the last one difference. In the Orthodox Churches during Midnight Mass you can only hear the choirs – there’s no organs or other musical instruments. But it is no problem - choirs are usually excellent.
NEW YEAR
There’s also a couple of differences between New Year celebration.
Ukrainian New Years Parties are called “małanki”.
Ukrainian youth during New Year’s Night bode in similar way as youth in Poland in 29th November during “Andrzejki”. They bode and try to guess what awaits them in the future. They are also making small jokes on a neighbours.
Early morning, young boys go from house to house and exclaims New Year wishes. They yell: “Pomahaj big, na szczastia, na zdrowia”. Typically, awaked host gives them a couple of “bałabuchy”. But what’s “bałabuchy”? It’s kind of cake which looks like doughnut but it’s four, five times greater.