Christmas
Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January seventh. On Christmas Eve, they eat
dumplings, cabbage rolls, borscht, gravy, donuts, and uszka (essentially miniature
perogies), and drink compote and jelly. All this delicious food is served as soon as the
first star in the sky is spotted. After dinner, the family sings Christmas carols.
In some regions of Ukraine, there is still a living tradition of performing a nativity
scene, a Christmas play about the birth of Jesus. This tradition has withstood Soviet
repression and survived to the present day. Once exhibited with dolls, nativity scenes
are now often performed. The plot of the nativity scene is as follows: three wise men
from the east told King Herod that Jesus, the king of the world, was born. King Herod
was furious with this news, and decided to kill all the babies. But Jesus was saved, and
Herod was beheaded for his crime.
Far from home, in Canada, Ukrainians also follow their Christmas traditions: they
prepare the Holy Supper, sing carols, and perform nativity scenes. Here you can see
how students at the University of Toronto, who study Ukrainian as an inherited or
foreign language, celebrate Christmas in Canada just as native Ukrainians do.
