Miron Pozniak is the Reverend at the St. Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Sundown. He says there are a wide variety of Ukrainian Christmas Traditions that come from different parts of the country but one tradition that remains consistent is the 12 meatless dishes eaten on Christmas Eve.
“The main meal is the cooked wheat which represents the bread of life which is Jesus and also the 12 meatless dishes represent the 12 apostles of Christ and the candle represents the light of the world. There are different traditions in different areas in Ukraine as well.”
Janet Bjornson lives in the Sundown area. She says Ukrainian Christmas is a great time to get together as a family and reflect on their heritage. She notes her mother used to do all of the Christmas cooking but the kids have now taken up the mantle.
“We had to learn what she knew because we knew otherwise we wouldn't be able to keep the tradition. I make the Ukrainian Kolach and my sister helps and my brother and his wife are doing cabbage roles and another brother brings borscht and everybody contributes and now even the next generation, our kids, are learning to make some of those things.”
Bjornson says a lot of people in the Southeast still celebrate Ukrainian Christmas but not nearly as many as when she was young. She notes she remembers a time when school would close for Ukrainian Christmas because so few children would show up.
Pozniak says even though many people do keep the Ukrainian traditions, some traditions stayed in Ukraine.
“In Ukraine, they did not have fancy houses so they would bring hay into the house which is not done anymore. All we do is maybe bring a sheaf of wheat and that is it. They used to put hay to make it look like a manger, the whole house was decorated as a manger because Jesus was born in a manger.”
Pozniak says regardless of whether or not we celebrate Christmas on December 25th or January 7th, we are all celebrating the birth of the same Jesus.
Sun, May 5, 1:00 PM
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