Christmas in Ukraine

Christmas in Ukraine is now officially celebrated on the 25th of December. This became law in July 2023. Previously, Christmas had traditionally been celebrated on the 7th of January as many of Ukraine’s Orthodox churches had historic connections with the Russian Orthodox church, which celebrates Christmas on the 7th January. In February 2023, Ukraine’s main Greek Catholic church announced a change to December 25th, from January 7th. Some people will still celebrate Christmas on the 7th January, but most Ukrainians will celebrate Christmas on Decelber 25th.

In Ukrainian Happy/Merry Christmas is ‘Веселого Різдва’ Veseloho Rizdva (Merry Christmas) or ‘Христос Рождається’ Khrystos Rozhdayetsia (Christ is Born). Happy/Merry Christmas in lots more languages.

The main Christmas meal, called ‘Sviata Vecheria’ (or Holy Supper) is eaten on Christmas Eve (24th December or 6th January). Traditionally people fast (don’t eat certain foods) all day but you might start the day drinking some holy water that has been blessed at church.

You can’t start eating the meal until the first star is seen in the sky. So people (especially the hungry ones!) go outside as soon as it start getting dark in the afternoon to try and spot the first star. The star represents the journey of the Wise Men to find Jesus and that Jesus has been born, so Christmas can start!

The meal normally has 12 dishes which represent Jesus’s 12 disciples. Traditionally the dishes don’t have any meat, eggs or milk in them. The main dish is often ‘kutia’ a type of a kind of sweet porridge made of wheat. Other dishes can include mushrooms, sauerkraut, red ‘borsch’ (beet soup), dumplings known as ‘varenyky’ (Pierogi), ‘holopchi’ (cabbage rolls, make without meat in them at Christmas!), ‘pyrizhky’ (cabbage buns), whitefish and ‘kolach’ (special Christmas bread). Another meal of 12 dishes is eaten on Christmas Day (25th December or 7th January). In this meal, some of the dishes will contain meat.

The room where Sviata Vecheria is eaten normally has a Didukh decoration placed in it. The Didukh is a made from a sheaf of wheat and symbolises the large wheat fields in Ukraine. It literally means ‘grandfather spirit’ and can represent people’s ancestors being with them in their memories. Sometimes people use some heads of wheat in a vase rather than a whole sheaf of wheat.

After the meal, people love to sing carols or ‘Koliadky’. They can be sung around the table or you might go out caroling in the streets. People sometimes carry brightly colored stars on poles when they go caroling singing.

The Ukrainian carol ‘Shchedryk’ is where the popular ‘Carol of the Bells’ came from.

St Nicholas (known as Svyatyi Mykolai) visits children in Ukraine on December 19th which is also when Ukraine celebrates St Nicholas’s Day. Did Moroz / Дід Мороз (Grandfather Frost) might bring you presents on New Year’s Eve rather than at Christmas. Did Moroz often travels with his Granddaughter Snegurochka (which means snow maiden).

Christmas in Peru

Because Peru is in the southern hemisphere, Christmas takes place during the summer. Christmas was probably first celebrated in Peru around 1535.

In the run up to Christmas, there are special events called ‘chocolatadas’ where people meet to see each other and drink hot chocolate and eat some ‘panetón’ (panettone – the Italian Christmas Cake). Chocolatadas started as a way of sharing some food and gifts with people who were less fortunate at Christmas. Some churches and community groups still have chocolatadas for this reason but they are also popular as a way of seeing family and friends.

Nativity scenes, called ‘nacimientos’ or ‘pesebre’, are an important decoration in most houses. They can be very large and elaborate. Sometimes they will have native Peruvian animals in them like llamas and alpacas! Traditionally the figure of the baby Jesus isn’t put into the scene until Christmas day.

Smaller scenes made in a box, with two doors on the front, are known as ‘retablos’. They have different types of historic or religious scene in them but Christmas retablos are very popular.

Some people will have artificial Christmas Trees but this is a relatively new decoration.

In Peru, the main Christmas celebrations are held on Christmas Eve which is called ‘Noche Buena’, which means ‘the good night’. Many people will go to a special church service called the Misa de Gallo (Rooster Mass) which normally start at 10pm on Christmas Eve.

After the mass the main meal is normally eaten. This is called the ‘cena de Navidad’. The main food at the meal might be roast turkey, chicken or pork with salads and other dishes like tamales. Some regions of Peru have their own Christmas favorite foods, like fish if you live near the sea. The traditional dessert is panetón.

Presents are often opened around the same time as dinner is eaten! There’s a countdown to midnight, people say ‘Feliz Navidad’ (Merry Christmas) and then, the presents are exchanged.

After midnight there’s lots of toasting the start of Christmas day with champagne and/or hot chocolate and then people like to go into the streets to wish their neighbors, friends and family a Merry Christmas and there are often lots of fireworks to celebrate Christmas.

After celebrating into the early hours, people will get some sleep and then the 25th December is a day to spend with family, eating leftovers or having a day out. In some regions there are parades on Christmas Day.

In some Andean regions of Peru, presents are exchanged at Epiphany (6th of January) rather than at Christmas. Also during Epiphany, often small gifts like candy, especially lollies, are exchanged and the Rosca de Reyes (King’s Cake) is eaten. Epiphany is also when the nacimientos is taken down.