Why changing Christmas celebration date is difficult for Ukrainians

The transition in Christmas celebration is much more complicated for Ukrainians than just changing the celebration dates. And it is influenced by our peculiarities and historical context, and there is so much mixed up that it is very difficult to untangle it.

The first problem is the New Year celebration. It is a significant holiday for us and not everyone is ready to give it up. And here is the problem, because the main attribute of the New Year, a Christmas tree. In Europe it is not a New Year tree, but a Christmas tree. And the New Year itself is not really celebrated in Europe, as far as I understand. And it will not be possible to attribute the Christmas tree to the Ukrainian Christmas back, because we have traditional didukhs and other decorations. And, secondly, the USSR forcibly and propagandistically stripped it of its Christmas meaning, and attached it to the New Year celebration. And to do the same way but in the opposite direction will not work.

“The New Year itself is not really celebrated in Europe, as far as I understand. And it will not be possible to attribute the Christmas tree to the Ukrainian Christmas back, because we have didukhs and other decorations” 

By the way, Father Frost is also not an invention of the Soviet era, but rather a distilled Old Slavic mythological character. But the triad Father Frost  - Christmas tree - Olivier salad is a Soviet scenario. This includes the New Year's greeting of the Secretary General on TV, which made you all shed a tear yesterday.

The existing doubling of the New Year and the Old New Year falls into the same box. After all, see how it works: everyone has long switched to celebrating the New Year on January 1, but everyone still knows that January 14 is the Old New Year, although most may not have heard of the Julian calendar. Because it is easy to start a new holiday, but to erase the old one is not so easy.

In addition, if I am not mistaken, during the occupation of Poland, even the Ukrainian Catholic Church celebrated Christmas on January 7 to avoid assimilation and preserve the identity of the nation and its church. Which was very correct.

“European Christmas and Ukrainian Christmas are very different in content and depth, at least for Galicia”

And yet, from what I see, European Christmas and Ukrainian Christmas are very different holidays in terms of content and depth, at least for Galicia. European and American Christmas is a commercialized plastic holiday of discounts in stores and colorful garlands. And Carol Bells, yes. But Christmas in Galicia is about tradition: 4 garlics in the corners of the table, hay, carols, a nativity scene and a lit candle. Would I want to exchange it for mulled wine on the central square of the city? Hardly.

Oh, and our Shchedryk, the original one, not a Christmas song, but a carol, which is sung on Shchedryi Vechir (Old New Year Eve), January 13, and in Galicia on January 18, before the holiday of Epiphany. And another tradition of “sowing” follows on the Old New Year.

And now, taking this into consideration, try to figure it out.

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About the author: Volodymyr Hevko, marketer, blogger

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