Jan 7 Orthodox Christmas
Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, used in Europe and North America. Therefore the Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January 7, 13 days later than the Catholic world. A very important religious holiday, Christmas wasn’t celebrated under the Soviets almost during the whole 20th century and only at the end of 1990s it was resurrected. On January 6th, Christmas Eve, many families gather for Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper). The twelve-course meal is dedicated to Christ’s twelve apostles. The traditional meals included are kutia (home-made bread with honey and red poppies), borsch (beet soup), vushka (dumplings filled with onions and mushrooms), a variety of fish, vareniki (dumplings filled with cabbage, potatoes, or prunes), andholubtsi (stuffed cabbage). In the last few years many forgotten traditions like Kolyadki (masked children going door-to-door to receive candy in exchange for traditional songs and jokes) have being reviving.