Christmas traditions in Ukraine

Beginning 2017, Ukrainian Christmas festivities start on Christmas Eve, which is celebrated on 24 December following the Gregorian calendar in official use in the Western Christian communities of Ukraine. The Christmas celebrations end on 19 January, the date of "Jordan" or Epiphany in the Julian calendar.

Both the December 25 Western Christianity Christmas day and the January 7 Christmas day of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Churches following the Julian Calendar, are public holidays in Ukraine. With these two holiday dates the Ukrainian Christmas period lasts for an extended period, with the celebrations starting on December 6, the Western Christian observance of the Feast of Saint Nicholas and ending on the aformentioned January 19 the following year.

Christmas Eve, or as it called 'Sviatyi Vechir' in Ukrainian ('Holy Evening') is filled with numerous customs and rituals. The customs include: decorating house and dinner table with special attributes (didukh, garlic, hay and others), performing koliadky ('carols') and so on. Each ritual has its own meaning and purpose, as such a few wisps of hay on the embroidered table cloth as a reminder of the manger in Bethlehem. One the most prominent customs of the night is a special supper, called Sviata Vecherya (Holy Supper).

Kutia (sweet grain pudding) is traditionally served at the Ukrainian Christmas dinner table. It is often the first dish in the traditional twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper (also known as Svyaty Vechir) and is rarely served at other times of the year.

At the end of the Sviata Vechera the family often sings Ukrainian Christmas carols. In many communities the ancient Ukrainian tradition of caroling is carried on by groups of young people and members of organizations and churches calling at homes and collecting donations. The Ukrainian song "Shchedryk" became the basis for the world famous Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells". Another well-known carol is Boh predvičnyj narodivsja.

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