What are the traditions for Christmas in Ukraine?

Christmas is a bright and rich on a custom holiday, which every year is eagerly awaited by adults and children. A beautiful dressed tree, lovely gifts, melodic Christmas carols, a delicious meal, a huge Didukh and mysterious fortune-telling - all these are elements of celebration, without which it loses its charm. Every country in the world has its own traditions for Christmas. In Ukraine they are also individual and authentic, but no less interesting than in any other corner of our vast planet.

Preparation for the holiday

It began as early as the autumn harvest. It was then that the festive Didukh was harvested - a bundle of hay bandaged with ribbon, which was adorned with different cereal crops: wheat, oats, rye. Chose the most beautiful spikelets, the hay must be necessarily soft and fragrant. Before the beginning of the holiday, by the New Year, they tried to complete all the most important business matters: they harvested feed for domestic animals, cleaned the house, bleached ceilings, painted chimneys and stoves.

Traditions of Christmas celebrations in Ukraine have their own unique flavor. For example, the head of the family bought new clothes for his wife and children, as well as new dishes. Women gathered in the evenings and with the help of wax collected in their own apiary they made beautiful wicker candles, which then decorated the table and the room on Christmas Eve. They were whispered by special prayers and conspiracies, so that they would gain miraculous power. Young boys and girls, in turn, learned carols, sewed ritual dresses and made a den.

On the eve of Christmas

On the morning of January 6, the whole family got up with the first cocks. The hostess took seven logs, which she put aside for seven weeks, and neatly folded them into the oven. It was for them to cook the main festive dishes - kutya and Uzvar. Traditionally, for Christmas in Ukraine they were lit with a "live" flame, for this purpose they used a flint or an old way: they cut a spark with two blocks of wood. Only in the twentieth century began to use matches, but in remote villages the custom of "living" fire survived to this day.

The owner of the house with the first rays of the sun opened all the doors and windows in the house, even the gates of stables, barns and barns. It was believed that the god of prosperity and harvest walks at this time on the ground and peeps into those yards where he is cordially awaited. The beast was sprinkled with poppy seeds to discourage the devil. Men before the festive Lenten supper were brought into the hut Didukh, before sprinkling it with water, collected with the first morning dawn. Above the sheaf they sentenced a prayer, asking God for health and wealth this year.

Preparation of dinner

It was a special ritual, in which not only women took part, but also their husbands and children. Traditionally, for Christmas in Ukraine (in English - Christmas Eve) the main dish was kutya. For its preparation, the crushed and soaked wheat was taken, as well as the water collected before sunrise. After the kutya was cooked, nuts, honey, poppy seeds and raisins were added to it. As for the Uznar, it was made from the dried fruits already harvested in autumn: pears, apples, plums.

Necessarily was to be present on the table and knish - pie with stuffing. On top of it they laid out a small loaf intended for the souls of the dead ancestors. Then the landlady baked lenten rolls, cooked in new dishes stuffed cabbage with mushrooms, vareniki with potatoes and other dishes. In total, they were supposed to be 12. All the festive dishes were laid out on a table covered with a smart tablecloth, in the corners of which were placed cloves of garlic - he guarded the family from various evil spirits, as well as from evil and evil eye.

Diduh

After the table was laid, the head of the family and his eldest son put Diduh in the house. On the threshold they were met by the hostess with a lighted candle in one hand and with knysh in the other. Traditionally, at Christmas in Ukraine, the children installed Didukh on the sack, covered with hay. After that, the little one ritually rolled on the floor, so that living creatures in the farm were not transferred.

Didukh in ancient times was analogous to a modern dressed tree. He is a symbol of Christmas, that's why he always took an honorable place at the head of the table. Traditions of the celebration of Christmas in Ukraine indicate that the Slavs who lived in this territory believed in the miraculous power of Didukh. They believed that after the harvest, the souls of deceased relatives enter into it.

After the solemn movement of Didukh from the barn into the house, it was forbidden to do any domestic robot. Girls even carried out on the streets brooms and rags, so as not to succumb to temptation. For three days people were having fun and relaxing. The only thing that was allowed to do was to take care of the cattle.

Lenten dinner

When all the rituals and rituals were done, family members changed into smart clothes and waited impatiently for the first star to appear in the night sky - only then it was possible to sit down at the table. The whole day before that, people fasted - they did not eat anything, only they drank water - that's why it was a particularly welcome moment.

What are the traditions for Christmas in Ukraine related to the Svyatchecer? Firstly, according to custom, the head of the family sat first at the table. Further by seniority, others: parents, wife, children. Before sitting down, the people present were blowing on chairs, so as not to accidentally press down the spirits that could sit on them. Secondly, the owner always read a prayer, after which it was possible to trapeze. First they tried the kutya, then all the other dishes in turn. All this time in the middle of the table there was knysh and a lit candle stuck in it.

It was believed that if poor people come to dinner at dinner, that's for luck. A good sign was toss a spoonful of kuti to the ceiling: people believed that the ritual would bring the cattle rich litter, and they, accordingly, prosperity.

After dinner

Traditionally, for Christmas in Ukraine, Svyatvescher ended with Christmas carols. People sang them first in the family circle, then they launched into the house whole bands of mummers with denots who wished prosperity, health and luck to the masters, after which ritual songs about the birth of Christ were sung with their blessing. As a reward, they received sweet treats or a ring penny.

No one went to bed after the Holy Supper. People tried to spend this time with their families. To leave the house was not accepted: only children took delicacies from the table and referred them to their grandfathers and grandmothers, as well as to their godparents. On the windowsills, candles burned all night: they lit the way to the souls of the dead who could look into the light. Also they were left with kutya and other dishes on the festive table.

After midnight, the girls would guess at the promised: on the coffee grounds, mirrors, boots and logs. It was believed that it was on this night that you can maximally reveal the veil of the future. You could not quarrel, get angry and say bad words, because that night they could be heard by an unclean force that wandered under the windows.

Jan. 7

The next day, the caroling people came again from the very morning. They were boys winculary, the girls could only greet the owners on January 8. Traditionally, for Christmas in Ukraine (in English - Christmas Day) the children were generously presented with pies, candies, apples and nuts. People went to church for the festive service, after which it was believed that Christmas had fully entered into its legal rights.

Celebrated for at least three days: all this time the local people went to visit each other, singing Christmas carols and resting. Heads of households lit houses with candles from the temple, sprinkled the corners with holy water. We ate no longer lean, but fast food. Traditionally, on January 7, on January 7, a sausage-krovianku, a cold meat, a roast, a slate, a homemade yellow cheese, stuffed pigs and so on were served on the table. In the evenings we gathered around the church and organized folk festivals: we danced round, we sang, we danced, we wished everyone happy and good luck in the New Year.