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| After six weeks the lights will be turned off. |
After I left high school I was always with some Ukrainian people. At Christmas they always talked a great deal about their Christmas celebrations. Ukrainian Christmas is Jan. 7 as it follows the Julian calendar which the Ukrainian Orthodox church uses.
The Christmas celebration is full of symbolism to remember and celebrate Christ's birth. For me Ukrainian food is awesome. There are 12 courses in the Christmas meal representing the twelve apostles. All dishes are meatless. There are many other celebratory traditions from their rich culture. I will let some one else who is Ukrainian describe the celebration more accurately and fully.
For me it's the signal to turn off the lights. I like to keep the lights on until the Ukrainians have finished their celebrations.
Kistos Razdayetsya!
how interesting! did not know that jan. 7th was the ukranian christmas. my family always held out to jan. 6th for the feast of the magi, then took down the creche but that was catholic tradition.
ReplyDeleteThe number of different Christmas traditions is amazing.
DeleteThe tree came down today because the needles are all over the living room floor. No tradition there. It does go up on the 18th which is my mother's birthday, that is family tradition.
ReplyDeleteIt will now go out by my birdfeeders for a windbreak. The trimmings are already covering the daffodil and crocus bulbs in their bed.
Interesting how most people have routines for these activities.
DeleteWhat a delight to try 12 courses, I know a few Serbs who celebrate the same day.
ReplyDeleteThis comes from the Orthodox church and I believe Serbs would be in that category with a few different food recipes.
DeleteRed in honor of my Polish ancestry I leave my tree and lights up until after today as well... so tomorrow the tree comes down and the extension cord which connects all of the outdoor lights is put away for another season. I've never had the traditional 12 dishes, maybe one of these years I'll have to to just this.
ReplyDeleteYou are a very thoughtful man Red, kind and considerate as well.
I might be somewhat thoughtful,but am I ever forgetful.
DeleteI was put down as Polish on a census one time. Our family came from the Ukraine. At times the area was Ukraine and at other times Polish.
Now I have a question for you, if someone comes from White Czechoslovakia what nationality are they? Would it be Polish? My grandmother (babau) on my fathers side was born there and my djiedo was from Poland... when asked just say I'm Metis as my grandmother on my mothers side was First Nations.
DeleteWell, according to Dr. Kline...the Europeans are white guys. I always think the nationality thing is highly over blown. Yes, Czechs are Czechs. One of my followers , Petra is Czech. It's pretty neat following her blog and learning about Czechoslovakia.( Why did you give me such a hard word to spell?)
DeleteVery interesting, Red! I just took down the outside stuff yesterday, but the tree and all the inside decorations are still up, hopefully coming down today. I have just not felt like doing anything and then we were gone 10 days during Christmas. Oh well, time to put everything away and sort out and minimize again!
ReplyDeleteWe call sorting and minimizing downsizing. We've been working at it for a few years. I think somebody else will have to do most of it for us...when we're not here or don't care.
DeleteRed, mate (oh I have used the matey saying again- well it is 100% Aussie).
ReplyDeleteYou are to be commended to acknowledge your Ukrainian heritage, many would not. The Ukraine has certainly had many dumps/bumps on it.
See here for viewers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine
Fascinating eh?
I also checked before this response, the Ukraine
does have an Embassy in Canberra, Australia, that was a surprise to me.
You could google and find the location etc etc.
Oh what would we do without Wikipedia???
The source of information, pity people don't use it more, before responding to BLOGS.???
Cheers
Colin (Brisbane, Australia)
Western Canada has a large Ukrainian population. They have worked hard at keeping their traditions. They have a love for their past. There's lots of Ukrainian dancing here.
DeleteI am not Ukrainian but have lots of friends and acquaintances who are.
Morning Red - Growing up, we always kept our Christmas Lights on two weeks into January as my Mom would say - "There are many celebrations still going on in the world so we will celebrate with them" - and then we had a lesson or two about who and what they were celebrating. My Mom never went to University, but she was well read and music, history and other cultures greatly interested her, which she passed on to her children. Nice to see another leaving their lights on to be part of another celebration.
ReplyDeleteKnowledge of other cultural traditions helps to make ours make more sense. It's also something we pass on to our children.
DeleteI read this somewhere else the other day and learned that the Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, so they must also follow that religion. I'm sad to think the lights will be turned off, since it's still so dark outside for so many hours of the day!
ReplyDeleteThe Ukrainians follow the Orthodox doctrine. The days are starting to lengthen now so we should start to see more wonderful light.
DeleteThe things I learn from my blogger friends. I didn't know about Ukrainian Christmas.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it I don't know anything about a Portuguese Christmas! So there's an idea for one of you're posts.
DeleteHow very interesting. One thing about coming to your blog is I always learn something new or have something new to think about or something that jogs my memory!
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
I guess that we are separated enough that many things are different. We do have to think about thinks and compare them to what we know. I've found following your blog and finding out about irrigation to be fascinating.
DeleteMmmm. That explain why I got a rather late Christmas card from a friend who is now in Greece... Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThe Greeks would follow the same routine.
DeleteChristmas cards seem to have dwindled to a trickle lately.
Ah yes, The Feast of Epiphany I believe. It's always in my mind if I haven't undecorated. I had removed the ornaments earlier but today we unplugged the lighted tree and it's put away for another year. My neighbors lights are still burning and we'll see how long that goes on. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, everybody has their traditions. I was in Hawaii in December one time and it was interesting to watch them prepare for Christmas. It wasakind of weird for me as it was warm and no snow.
Delete12 courses? They must be good cooks and like cooking. I would not have done well in that culture.
ReplyDeleteMy decorations are still up..but maybe today is the day:)
Some of the dishes are pretty simple but cabbage rolls are a lot of work.
DeleteI did not know about the Ukranian tradition. My decorations are finally down, so I'm happy!
ReplyDeleteUkrainians have a very colorful traditional dance. I like watching it.
DeleteI took my Christmas lights down a day too early! I was not familiar with Ukrainian Christmas, but I will know better next year.
ReplyDeleteProbably not too many Ukrainians in England. It's a fairly good chunk of the prairie population.
DeleteMy husband loves the Christmas garland, cards,wreaths and all the pretties that go with it. He actually gets a little down when it all comes down so I will leave it ALL up or take it down a lil at a time until the end of January! By then it's time to start thinking about getting ready for planting. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYour husband is one of many who feel a loss when the decorations go down. Neat idea to take things down gradually.
DeleteFrank is Ukrainian and I had the pleasure of indulging in not one but two Ukrainian Christmas celebrations. My sons joined us at Frank's sister's place on the 24th for some traditional fare (though not entirely meatless.. but close) and again on Jan 7th at his nephew's home. His family can't seem to abstain from kielbasa at their celebrations, so that meal wasn't meatless either. Both were yummy and though we didn't do "courses," we certainly had at least 12 platters of different kinds of food at each event. I'm still drooling over the perogies!
ReplyDelete