https://www.kyivpost.com/post/25893

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This year, many Ukrainians are celebrating Christmas for the first time on Dec. 25.

Most are Orthodox Christians and, unlike previous years, will be using a new calendar for Christmas instead of the one historically shared with Russia, which celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7.

Why has Ukraine changed when it celebrates Christmas?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2023 10:49PM by Maude.

...I'm still not going back to activity in the mormon church!

Ukraine is going mainstream christinsanity ! *LOL*

It smacks of panic, I fear.

Ukraine wants desperately to be part of "Europe," meaning NATO and the EU. It rightly fears it is losing Western support and is doing everything it can to tip the balance back in its favor.

Sadly, like a Tennessee Williams character, Ukraine has always depended on the kindness--and wisdom--of strangers; and wisdom is in short supply right now.

I mean that everyone seems to be getting hostile during the holiday season this year. October on to now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2023 09:59PM by lousyleper.

It was pretty much decided a year ago. The vast majority of people already celebrated on the 25th in the traditional Western way and then church on the 7th. Not many do the fasting but some still do a version of the 12 dishes but it is a LOT of work. There are other "no meat" periods, that is why you will find a lot of vegetarian dishes or vegetarian versions of things.

Had to look this up, learned something new

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-dish_Christmas_Eve_supper

Their traditions are so interesting and there are still touches of the pagan in most of the celebrations. Sheaves of wheat, didukh, are the traditional decoration not a pine/fir tree. Some can be really elaborate. Acknowledging ancestors by leaving food out. The kids I know love to moo under the table :) The food is so good but it is so labor intensive it takes a large family or group of friends. Then there are more celebrations on January 14, Malanka. Everything always has a lot of singing and music too. Even in war, in the trenches, they sing, dance and play music.

https://ukraine.ua/visit/christmas-in-ukraine/

https://www.speakua.com/10-ukrainian-christmas-traditions-and-symbols/

Very Interesting...

Also found out that the popular Christmas Carol Of The Bells song is actually from a Ukrainian carol as well

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_of_the_Bells

Yes, I have posted this a couple of times but you must have missed it. It has roots in old pagan traditions. Ukraine has an interesting history when it comes to Christianity and it was accepted over time, not a sword. Sometimes they slapped a saint name on a festival but the festival didn't change. It all started with a very strong, brave and shrewd woman who gave her son the choice to remain pagan. She is best known for her... inventive and deadly revenge against those that killed her husband Igor, would have killed her son Svyatoslav, and taken the country. Chances are good she was baptized in the Hagia Sophia, taking the name of Constantine's mother, Helena or Elena. This is further supported by the fact that her Grandson, Vladimir the Great, most likely was the originator of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. Not named for a specific Saint but rather the Greek meaning Holy Wisdom, same for Hagia Sophia. Our new puppy is named Sophia, something that pleased my friends in Kyiv quite a bit as they have gone often and love it. They even named their new kitten Sonia before they knew, the short version there of Sophia.

From his recent letter-

"Kids gave her this name. We have big holiday - St.Nickolaus Day (День Святого Миколая) - 6th of December. Mykolay here in Ukraine is like your Santa Claus. He brings presents for kids. They wait for him very much. Now we don’t have Did Moroz, we have Mykolay and Santa also. So, Mykolay brought Sonia to our home. So she is Sonia Mykolaivna (maybe you know we have second fathers name here in Ukraine). So she is Mykolaivna because he brought it).


So yes, Shchedryk / Щедрик. Carol of the Bells is based on very very old Pagan songs and traditions about Spring. This is my favorite version in Ukrainian and English. It should have subtitles to follow along with. I LOVE this singer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqeJ38DThVc This is another favorite of mine where she has changed the words a bit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZztmQsSAqfo

Here is more about the Princess, it is puppets but NOT for kids. It is actually very well done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Ymf_hTbUM&t=1845s

Virtual tour of my St. Sophia https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=XxDnKGZfXJG

I may be naive, but I view Ukraine as a strong nation & people wanting to succeed with labor, trade, and a vibrant, healthy nation.

Point of clarification. Orthodox Christmas is also on Dec 25, but on the older Julian calendar. That Julian date now corresponds to Jan 7 on the Gregorian calendar.

The Julian calendar inserted slightly too many leap years, which had the effect of moving the equinoxes and solstices. This was a particular problem for setting the date of Easter. It is supposed to be the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Unfortunately, the method for setting the date of Easter did not use the spring equinox, an astronomical event. It used March 21, which was the spring equinox date at about the time of Christ, but by the 1400s, Julian calendar March 12 or so was when the spring equinox was actually happening.

The churches, Catholic and Orthodox, could have solved the problem by simply deciding to use the actual spring equinox to set the date of Easter, and drop March 21 from the formula.

They chose not to do that because tradition. So Pope Gregory did the next best thing. He changed to formula for inserting leap years, and chopped I think it was 7 or so days out of the Julian date, to move the spring equinox back to March 21.

The Metropolitans of the various Orthodox churches were having a pissing match with the Pope, so they weren’t about to adopt the Pope’s calendar, even if it did fix the problem with Easter getting moved later and later past the spring equinox.

And that is why Orthodox Christmas is on Gregorian Jan 7. That is when Dec 25 occurs in the Julian calendar.

So what has happened is that Ukraine has decided to end its pissing match with Rome, and just adopt the Gregorian calendar, about 600 years late. Incidentally, most of the Protestant countries in Europe also resisted switching to the Gregorian calendar. As I recall, the UK didn’t switch until the 1750s, which means George Washington was born when the colonies were still using the Julian calendar, but spent most of his life under the Gregorian calendar, causing some confusion as to his birth date.

anybody Wrote:
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> Why has Ukraine changed when it celebrates
> Christmas?

For entirely political reasons to do with this war. To be more like the west, and less like Russia. In some ways this is sad, because this was their tradition long before the rise of the (Muscovite) Russian Empire.