For months, I had been mulling over the traditions associated with Ukrainian Christmas food. In my own unique way of supporting the people of Ukraine, I thought it would be fun to learn how Christmas is celebrated in Ukraine and share it with a United States audience. It was a real pleasure to tackle this subject, and I learned a great deal from our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
While learning about Ukrainian Christmas food traditions, I took note of some of the most important things and modified some dishes and ingredients to make them more modern or western-friendly. My goal was to provide guidance that anyone in the United States could follow to try different approaches to the holidays.
In Ukrainian, Merry Christmas
I wish you a Merry Christmas (Khrystovym)!
There is a common phrase in old Ukrainian that means ‘birth’. Although it might sound ridiculous in English, it is common to say ‘birth’ on Christmas!
Christmas is celebrated by Ukrainians from January 7-9, with the first day being the most important.
Ukrainian Christmas Traditions in a Nutshell
Ukraine celebrates Christmas on January 7.
Sviata Vecheria, or Holy Supper, is eaten on Christmas Eve, January 6.
After the first star is visible in the sky, Ukrainians will begin dinner. The most hungry will go outside when it becomes dark to look for a star, so they can begin dinner. Symbolizing Jesus’ birth and the journey of the Wise Men, the star represents the journey of the Wise Men to find him.
Ukrainians traditionally serve 12 dishes for Christmas Eve dinner, which represent Jesus’s 12 disciples. These dishes will not contain meat, eggs, or milk. Kutya, a wheat-based sweet oatmeal, is often served as the main dish. Among the foods available are mushrooms, sauerkraut, red borsch (beet soup), dumplings known as varenyky (pierogi), holopchi cabbage rolls, which are made without meat at Christmas, pyrizhky (cabbage buns), whitefish and kolach, a special Christmas bread.
Whatever your other dishes are, Kutya is a must-have.
An official Christmas symbol in Ukraine is the Didukh, a bundle of grains. Didukh decorations are placed in the room where Sviata Vecheria is served. Symbolizing the large wheat fields in Ukraine, the Didukh is made from a sheaf of wheat. Some people use some heads of wheat in a vase instead of a whole sheaf, to symbolize their ancestors being with them in their memories. It literally means ‘grandfather spirit’.
All uneaten food is left on the table overnight for the dead to feast on.
To encourage livestock to breed, children crow, grunt, moo, bark, and meow under the table on Christmas Eve.
People sometimes carry brightly colored stars on poles when they go caroling and singing in the streets. Ukrainian Christmas carols are called Kolyadky and can be sung around the table or out in the streets.
Carol of the Bells, the most popular Christmas carol for children, comes from Shchedryk.
There are many ways to decorate the Christmas tree with paper snowflakes. In parts of western Ukraine, Christmas Trees are decorated with artificial spiderwebs because of the Christmas Spider story. These are made of paper and silver wire, called pavuchky, which means little spider.
