Celebrating Orthodox Easter in Ukraine

Dear friends,

Easter is just around the corner! We are happy to open the world of Ukraine to you by telling you more about how this holiday is celebrated in our country.

This year is special as this time Easter is celebrated on the same day by Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics – on the 4^th of April.

You probably know that we, Ukrainians, usually celebrate Easter on different dates than the Western world. Orthodox Christians (people living in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Belarus etc.) usually celebrate Easter a week later than the other countries. For example in 2009 we celebrated on the 19^th of April, not on the 12^th. The differences between dates are too complicated to explain, that is why every year we just have to check the calendar;-)

The last week before Easter is the most important one. If you have not been keeping to a diet for the last 7 weeks as the most devoted people do, this is the time to do so. Easter lent is the longest and the strictest one. You are not supposed to eat either meat or dairy products, and only on a few days during this period are you allowed to eat fish. Great lent is a very strict religious and spiritual diet and not all people are able to bear it.

A week before Ester we have Willow Sunday. There is a tradition of going to church this day to bless the branches of a willow tree. It is believed from ancient times that willow has magical qualities and can protect from evil. That is why blessed branches are kept during the whole year. This pagan belief transferred to Christianity. Willow is one of first plants to wake up from winter sleep. It is a tradition to hit little with braches of willow and say – it is not me, it is willow tree, so be healthy as a willow. It is believed that willow is very good for health. But to plant a Willow tree is said to be a bad sign.

The last Thursday before Easter is called Maundy Thursday. It commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday. The week before Easter is called white, clean, illuminating, grand, Passion Week, or willow week. The days are busy with physical and spiritual cleansing and reflection. Following supper on Passion Thursday and until Easter morning it is forbidden to eat meat or dairy foods.

Easter is always celebrated on Sunday and marks the end of the Great Lent.

The most sacred Easter bread and the symbol of holiday is the paska and the preparation and baking of paska was considered one of the most important tasks of the year. People believed that the future could be predicted, depending on how this holiday bread turned out. Every homemaker wanted her paska to be the biggest, the tastiest – the best. Paska recipes are considered to be family treasures, inherited from mothers to daughters.

During the preparation the homemaker had to maintain pure thoughts. While the paska was in the oven no one was allowed to sit or make a loud noise for fear it would collapse in the oven. In some regions of Ukraine the man of the house stood guard in his front door lest someone enter and cast an evil spell while the paska was baking.

A successfully baked paska brings great joy to the family. Wrapped in a rushnyk (ritual cloth), or placed in a basket, the paska is carried to church by the master of the house to be blessed in a ceremony following the Resurrection Mass on Easter morning. Other foods such as cheese, butter, salt, pork fat, horse radish, eggs, pysanky (Ukrainian Easter egg), ham, sausages, as well as various seeds were also brought to church for the blessing. Immediately after the ceremony the family would hurry home to share the blessed paska and thus begin Easter breakfast.

The top of the paska was covered with symbolic signs made of dough such as a cross, solar signs, rosettes, leaves, pine cones and sometimes even birds and bees. Most of these decorations were remnants of an ancient pagan religion tied to the cult of the sun and bread.

On that Saturday evening people usually go to church for the midnight service.

The Resurrection Mass was always eagerly awaited. In old times a mass was held in the early morning before the rising of the sun. At that time in history all churches in Ukraine were built to face the East. When the Mass was ending and the priest first said Chrystos Voskres (Christ Has Risen), the doors of the church would be opened and the rays of the rising sun would envelop the faithful. Following the Mass the people greeted each other in the traditional way, by kissing each other three times. This is called chrystosuvania.

The people would then stand outside the church with their baskets filled with the food which they had prepared for the blessing ceremony. A lit candle was always placed in the baskets which were decorated with aromatic herbs.

We also have the tradition of painting eggs called krashanky. It is usually very fun and children are proud to decorate their own krashanky.

You could try to cook paska yourself and tell your friends about it.  

PASKA BREAD

1 qt. milk

1 1/2 c. butter

1 lg. cake yeast

1 c. warm water (85 degrees)

1 tsp. sugar

6 eggs

1 sifter flour (4 c.)

1 c. sugar

1 tbsp. salt

2 c. sour cream

2 c. raisins, cooked in water & drained (follow pkg. directions)

Beaten egg yolk (for top)

Melted butter (for top)

Oven: 325 degrees. Heat milk and butter until shortening melts; set aside.

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Set aside.

Beat eggs very well. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs; stir in milk. Add sour cream. Mix well, adding additional flour if needed, until dough leaves the sides of the bowl and hands become free of dough.

Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hours. Knead dough well. Mix in drained raisins. Cover and let rise 1 hour. Grease 6 loaf pans. Shape into loaves or round paska pans. Make sure that pans are no more than half full. Let rise in pans 1/2 to 1 hour until doubled in bulk. Brush tops with beaten egg yolks, if desired. Bake for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on shape used. When baked, brush tops with melted butter.

NOTE: Extra flour may be used (up to 3 sifters full) depending on its consistency.

Good luck!

Dear friends, if you want are thinking of sending a special gift to your loved ones in Ukraine this Easter, you could choose one at our Easter Gifts Collection. Wherever you are you could still be a part of their lives and reach out and send your love and care to them.

The most popular gifts on this holiday are Easter Gourmet Food baskets, Elegant Fruit Tray , Bunny with Belgian Chocolates and a Dozen Balloons, a bouquet of spring flowers is always a great choice!

Easter is the biggest religious holiday in Ukraine after Christmas and is celebrated by all Orthodox Christians. Our teams work at Unona 7 days a week to have your gifts delivered as soon as possible. We have only there three full days off in a year, and one of them is Easter. For this reason there will be no messages translated or deliveries arranged on this day, as everybody will be spending this sacred day with their families. If you are thinking of sending a gift to your loved ones in Ukraine, please consider placing your order well in advance as we arrange all deliveries on Easter Eve.

May this be one of the most pleasant holidays for you and for your beloved people.

Happy Easter !!!!

8th of March, International Women’s Day

“Women are the real architects of society.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

 

Dear friends, as you have probably understood there is no month in Ukraine without a holiday;-)  In spite of the recent popularity here of St. Valentine’s Day, the most important holiday for your lady will remain the one that we celebrate on the 8^th of March: International women’s day.

This date was chosen to celebrate all women: mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, co-workers, daughters, girlfriends, and fiancées. The 8^th of March officially marks the care and attention towards the gentler half of mankind.

Believe it or not we inherited International Women’s Day from the Socialist Party of America in 1909.  In 1910 in Copenhagen the idea of having a day, which unites women all over the world, was supported by famous socialist Clara Zetkin. In 1917 Kollontai, a minister in the first Soviet government, persuaded Lenin to make March 8^th an official holiday. During the Soviet period, the holiday was celebrated as the holiday of “the heroic woman worker”. Today it is an official day off, and both men and women look forward to this holiday. It has lost its political meaning and now celebrates the unconditional love, sacrifice, patience, wisdom, and beauty of the Ukrainian women. This is the day when we congratulate our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, wives and girlfriends, and often one can hear congratulations even from the strangers in the street.

Men start to get ready for this holiday here in a week or so, and the morning of 8^th of March is famous for flower shops totally crowded with men. Although the local flower stores almost double the prices on this holiday [note: Unona’s prices do not change], lots and lots of flowers are sold as every woman in Ukraine receives a few bouquets on this day. Besides flowers the other presents on this day are chocolates, toys, jewelry, or perfumes.  Most importantly men try to make his women free from housework at least for one day, by inviting her to a restaurant or trying to cook and to clean up.

Our website www.Ukrainegiftdelivery.com is always ready to help you with the choice of beautiful and thoughtful gifts to your loved ones in Ukraine. Make sure to check our Women’s Day gifts collection and pick the best flowers and gifts in Ukraine for your beloved Ukrainian women. Special offer: with every order over $120 we add a free heart-shaped box of chocolates! And our loyal customers save even more as 5% of each your order gets back to your account with MyRewards program.

 And remember that if you have something very special on your mind and you cannot find it in our collection, you can always tell us your wish and we will do our best to find exactly what you want.

Sincerely,
Ukraine Gift Delivery customer support

Toll free: 1 866 90 UNONA (North America)
1 778 279 80 87 (global)

Celebrating New Year and Christmas in Ukraine

Z novym rokom ta Rizdvom Khrystovym!

This is how you say Happy New Year and Merry Christmas in Ukrainian.

Your special people in Ukraine will be pleasantly surprised to hear your holiday wishes in their native language.

You are probably curious how New Year and Christmas, the most popular world holidays are celebrated in the Ukraine. There are several common things that every Ukrainian do, while preparing and celebrating New Year and Christmas.

1 Decorating house for New Year

The process of choosing tree and decorating it for the holiday is the most pleasant thing to do.

Some people have artificial trees they place every year, still others are buying real ones in the opened markets everywhere in the city. Many people save New Year decorations from their parents and grandparents. Every decoration has its history.

Red stars used to decorate the tops of the New year trees during the times of the Soviet Union, and many people keep this tradition nowadays too, without any thought of how this tradition came to us.

Children like doing flecks of snow from paper and placing them on the windows. In many families decorating trees is what all family does; in others it is responsibility of only one member.  So everyone can come than and see the result.

The main Christmas tree of the country is situated in Kiev on the Independent square. However, usually every city has it own tree in the center.

2 Buying New Year presents

 

It is problem and joy at the same time. Presents are the most personal thing that can be. Here presents exchange mostly on New Year and on Christmas day. Except family, friends and colleagues are congratulated with small souvenirs, greeting cards, sweets and bottles of champagne.

Toys, book, Dvds, clothes, jewelry, perfumes….Every one chooses according to taste and to finances.

You can make your special people in Ukraine happy using our http://www.ukrainegiftdelivery.com/ to show how much you care about them and their families, being so far away and thinking about them, wishing them the best in the upcoming year.

 

3 Preparing New Year delicious festive menu

Good hostess prepares her New Year menu beforehand in several weeks. Festive dishes are of course the case of individual tastes and preferences. But several dishes are the must on every table.

Two most popular salads are Olivier and “Shuba” or herring under “shuba”.

You could look up a recipe on the Internet.

And a lot of fruits- apples, oranges and tangerines… Tangerines smell like a New Year…

 

4 Going with children or child to New Year shows

Since the beginning of the 20^th century, special event for children were organized during New Year holidays. Usually it is theatrical and music show, fairy tales and etc, where children are given sweets and presents and have photo shoot with Father Frost. It is called “New Year Elki”.

Elka is pine tree in Russian. In schools and kindergartens parties are organized where kids dressed in costumes sings songs, dance and read poems. They are called ‘utrenniki’, because they are held in the morning. Usually after that holidays begin at schools and kindergartens.

 

5 Watching top New Year Russian movies 

We have many favorite movies here we usually watch when New Year is celebrated. Perhaps you have heard about them already. Have your heard of The Irony of fate or The Wizards in her list of favorite movies? 

The love to the movie Irony of fate is considered to be the phenomenon and is studied by numerous psychologists, including American. 

“Ironiya sudby, ili S legkim parom” The Irony of fate or enjoy your bath! 1975

A group of old friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing house on New Years eve. Occasionally too much vodka and beer makes two of them unconscious. The problem is that one of them (Sasha) has to go to Leningrad but another one (Zhenya) goes. Zhenya wakes up at Leningrad airport. Believing that he is still in Moscow he takes a taxi and goes home. The street name, building and even apartment number, the way an apartment complex looks the same and the key coincide completely – just typical Soviet-type ‘economy’ architecture. Imagine the surprise of Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without trousers in her bed. What’s more – Nadya’s fiancé also finds him there…

Every year we keep watching the same story and enjoy it as we are watching it for the first time.

Another warm holiday movie is The wizards or Charodei. 1982

a small Russian town, there is a Research Institute for magic. One of the witches, Alyona Sanina, is going to marry a guy named Ivan Puhov (not a magician). A jealous Apollon Sataneev tells her boss Kira Shemahandskaya that Sanina is going to marry not Ivan Puhov, but Ivan Kivrin, whom Shemahandskaya is going to marry herself. Enraged, Shemahandskaya, who is a powerful witch, orders Sanina to forget about her Ivan and marry Sataneev instead. And this will be final unless Alyona kisses Puhov before midnight on New Year. Alyona’s friends call Puhov to the rescue.

There are many others but these two are the most favorite.

Maybe your lady will watch once again with her kids Home alone and will happily sigh she not going anywhere and have no chances to forget her child somewhere, even in a Christmas shop.

 

6 Having New Year party with friends and Family

New Year parties are celebrated several times – with colleagues, friends, family.

At about 11pm everybody sit at the table to say farewell with first glass of champagne.

Closer to midnight everybody turn on TV to watch Greetings from President and listening to the main clock on Independence counting the last seconds of old year and see fireworks to greet the New one. Afterwards the program of celebrating varies from trying to greet everyone until the phone lines will be overfilled and watching music program on TV, to singing karaoke, eating, drinking, finding present under the tree, going outside to do own fireworks show…this list is endless. Some people go to bed at once.  Some call taxi and go to their friends to celebrate together.  

 

7 Dinner on the Christmas Eve in family circle

Christmas is traditionally holiday to spend with your family. It begins on the evening of the 6^th of December. When the first star appear in the sky the celebration starts, it means that Jesus Christ was born. It is a must not to be late for the Christmas dinner.

Usually we do not exchange presents on Christmas. It is celebrated quietly and more calm than New Year.

People usually cook some tasty foods for this evening. There should be at least 12 different foods on the table. Those should mandatory include ‘Kutia’ — the ritual food which is prepared from cooked wheat and special syrup containing diluted honey, grated poppy seeds, raisins and sometimes walnuts.

 8 Taking part in a moment of magic by fortune telling and making wishes during New Year’s first night

There are many traditions to help your dreams come true. And New Year’s night is the best

time to do it. You can have 12 wishes while the clock will chime the last minute to New year, or write a wish on the piece of paper and quickly burn and drink all that left with your glass of champagne and a toast to New year. There are many more magical ways of helping your dream to come true in 2010!

 

9 Having difficult time after holidays adjusting to work again

That is absolutely normal! After 10 official days off, your lady will find strange to be back at work again.

 

The new tendency in celebrating New Year in Ukraine for the pat 15 years is taking into account

Chinese New Year system. Every year has an animal totem. The year 2010 is the year of tiger and now Ukrainians are happy to buy small and big tigers to their houses.

I hope you are now more acquainted with the culture of your lady’s country.

Dear friends,

Z novym rokom ta Rizdvom Khrystovym!

Catholic and Orthodox Christmas in Ukraine

“Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.”

 

 Oren Arnold

Our dear customers, Merry Christmas!

We are continuing our bog about holidays with the next important winter list holidays.

To celebrate Christmas on the 25^th of December or on the 7^th of January depend mostly from religious reviews.

As we have both Catholic communities and Orthodox Christian communities both dates are considered holidays in Ukraine. However, Ukrainians are mostly Orthodox Christians.

Many people wonder why the date of celebrating the day when the Christ was born is different.

Christmas is celebrated on December 25 in all Christian churches including Eastern Rite, Roman and Protestant. Since most Eastern Orthodox churches have not accepted either the Gregorian calendar or the Revised Julian Calendar reforms, December 25 will fall on the civil date of January 7 for the years from 1900 to 2099. It is believed that the nativity was set on December 25th by a Roman bishop around the third century A.D.

Christmas in Ukraine is celebrated January 7 as we have mentioned before, 13 days after other Christians, according to the Gregorian calendar as in most of other Orthodox Christian countries.

In the East, Christmas is preceded by a 40 day fast beginning on November 15th. This is a time of reflection, self-restraint and inner healing in the sacrament of confession.

During the Soviet time it was not officially celebrated in Ukraine. Instead communist government tried to substitute Christmas with the holiday of New Year. But people did not forget their traditions. After gaining it’s independence in 1991 Ukraine started to celebrate Christmas officially as well.

Usually, on Christmas Eve, observant Orthodox Christians fast till late evening, until the first star appears. When the star is seen, people lay the table ready for the Christmas supper.

There are numerous Christmas traditions here. They vary significantly at the different parts of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Christmas customs are based not only on Christian traditions, but to a great degree on those of the pre-Christian, pagan culture and religion. The Ukrainian society was basically agrarian at that time and had developed an appropriate pagan culture, elements of which have survived to this day.

Ukrainian Christmas festivities begin on Christmas Eve and end on the Feast of the Epiphany. The Christmas Eve Supper or Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper) brings the family together to partake in special foods and begin the holiday with many customs and traditions, which reach back to antiquity. The rituals of the Christmas Eve are dedicated to God, to the welfare of the family, and to the remembrance of the ancestors.

People usually cook some tasty foods for this evening. There should be at least 12 different foods on the table. Those should mandatory include ‘Kutia’ — the ritual food which is prepared from cooked wheat and special syrup containing diluted honey, grated poppy seeds, raisins and sometimes walnuts.

Children this evening come around their neighbors with torches and sparclers (called here Bengal lights) spreading grains and colored seeds. They wish people good health and abundant harvest for the next year and ask for some donations. Also they perform some Christmas songs called in different parts of Ukraine ‘Koliadky’ or ‘Shchedrivky’ like these:

“Radujsia zemle, radujsia. Syn Bozhyj narodyvsia.” — Joy, Earth, Joy. The Son of God was born.

“Dobryj vechir, Sviaty vechir. Dobrym liudiam na zdorovja.” — Good evening, Holy evening. To good people for good health.

Both koliadky and shchedrivky have pagan elements in them, but many have been Christianized.

The Catholic Christmas is usually celebrated with night service in church from the 24^th to 25^th of December. Christmas service is especially solemn, touching and beautiful. Local Catholic Church choirs have festive concerts of sacred music.

After people return from night service they have holiday breakfast and most of them go to work because 25^th of December is not official holiday in Ukraine!

May you have fun on both Christmas days! And may God bless you and your family! 

“Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.”

 

 Oren Arnold

 

Our dear customers, Merry Christmas!

 

We are continuing our bog about holidays with the next important winter list holidays.

To celebrate Christmas on the 25^th of December or on the 7^th of January depend mostly from religious reviews.

 

As we have both Catholic communities and Orthodox Christian communities both dates are considered holidays in Ukraine. However, Ukrainians are mostly Orthodox Christians.

 

Many people wonder why the date of celebrating the day when the Christ was born is different.

 

Christmas is celebrated on December 25 in all Christian churches including Eastern Rite, Roman and Protestant. Since most Eastern Orthodox churches have not accepted either the Gregorian calendar or the Revised Julian Calendar reforms, December 25 will fall on the civil date of January 7 for the years from 1900 to 2099. It is believed that the nativity was set on December 25th by a Roman bishop around the third century A.D.

 

Christmas in Ukraine is celebrated January 7 as we have mentioned before, 13 days after other Christians, according to the Gregorian calendar as in most of other Orthodox Christian countries.

 

In the East, Christmas is preceded by a 40 day fast beginning on November 15th. This is a time of reflection, self-restraint and inner healing in the sacrament of confession.

 

During the Soviet time it was not officially celebrated in Ukraine. Instead communist government tried to substitute Christmas with the holiday of New Year. But people did not forget their traditions. After gaining it’s independence in 1991 Ukraine started to celebrate Christmas officially as well.

 

Usually, on Christmas Eve, observant Orthodox Christians fast till late evening, until the first star appears. When the star is seen, people lay the table ready for the Christmas supper.

 

There are numerous Christmas traditions here. They vary significantly at the different parts of Ukraine.

 

Ukrainian Christmas customs are based not only on Christian traditions, but to a great degree on those of the pre-Christian, pagan culture and religion. The Ukrainian society was basically agrarian at that time and had developed an appropriate pagan culture, elements of which have survived to this day.

 

Ukrainian Christmas festivities begin on Christmas Eve and end on the Feast of the Epiphany. The Christmas Eve Supper or Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper) brings the family together to partake in special foods and begin the holiday with many customs and traditions, which reach back to antiquity. The rituals of the Christmas Eve are dedicated to God, to the welfare of the family, and to the remembrance of the ancestors.

 

People usually cook some tasty foods for this evening. There should be at least 12 different foods on the table. Those should mandatory include ‘Kutia’ — the ritual food which is prepared from cooked wheat and special syrup containing diluted honey, grated poppy seeds, raisins and sometimes walnuts.

 

Children this evening come around their neighbors with torches and sparclers (called here Bengal lights) spreading grains and colored seeds. They wish people good health and abundant harvest for the next year and ask for some donations. Also they perform some Christmas songs called in different parts of Ukraine ‘Koliadky’ or ‘Shchedrivky’ like these:

 

“Radujsia zemle, radujsia. Syn Bozhyj narodyvsia.” — Joy, Earth, Joy. The Son of God was born.

 

“Dobryj vechir, Sviaty vechir. Dobrym liudiam na zdorovja.” — Good evening, Holy evening. To good people for good health.

 

Both koliadky and shchedrivky have pagan elements in them, but many have been Christianized.

 

The Catholic Christmas is usually celebrated with night service in church from the 24^th to 25^th of December. Christmas service is especially solemn, touching and beautiful. Local Catholic Church choirs have festive concerts of sacred music.

After people return from night service they have holiday breakfast and most of them go to work because 25^th of December is not official holiday in Ukraine!

 

May you have fun on both Christmas days! And may God bless you and your family!

St. Nicholas Day in Ukraine

“Holy Bishop St. Nicholas lived far away
Near the Aegean Sea is where Turkey did lay.
Travel back with us now to a time long ago.
We will visit his country, his life we will know. . . .”

Winter holidays in Ukraine start with a beautiful holiday, beloved by all children in Ukraine – St. Nicholas Day. Ukrainians who have children are thinking about presents their kids will find on the morning of 19th of December. In schools and kindergartens special parties are held.

In Ukraine, St. Nicholas is a special saint, for it was Prince Vladimir who brought back tales of the saint after he went to Constantinople to be baptized. The Ukrainian prince Vsevolod Yaroslavych introduced the feast of St. Nicholas during the time of Pope Urban II (1088-99 AD).

St Nicholas was born and lived in 4th century on the territory of modern Turkey. He was the only son in his parent’s family. His family was very rich and his big heritage he was giving away generously. In one legend it says that one day he passed through a house, where one poor man wanted to sell his daughter to slavery because he had no money. St Nicholas threw a package with money through the window, so the girl was saved. Since that time the tradition of giving presents has begun.

St. Nicholas’ Day was a time of great fun in Ukraine. On this day, people would invite guests in and sleighs would be ridden around the village to see if the snow was slippery. This was the holiday for young children, for they would receive gifts from St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children. “St. Nicholas” was often accompanied by “angels” and might have quizzed the children on their catechism.

St. Nicholas comes to Ukrainian children while they are asleep. It is said that Angle and Antypka, small devil. All children receive presents they deserve. That is why children try to behave good during the whole year. Kids live their slippers on the windowsill or reveal their presents under the pillow.
Who behaved good, was polite and tender, Angel leaves pleasant surprises.
And who behaved badly receives birches from Antypka.

Among the presents it is a tradition to give baked cookies called Nikolaychyki. And if you have a godly wish in the night from 18 to 19th of December, it will come true.

Now 19th of December it is good day for charity. Children in orphanage houses more than ever need to feel love and joy. If you would like to add your donation to Unona’s support of the Teremok Orphanage house situated in Kherson city, contact us.
Our dear customers, we hope that our article helped you to know more about this popular holiday among Ukrainians!

Welcome to Ukraine Gift delivery Blog

Dear Friends,

We are starting to publish our new Blog to introduce you to Ukrainian holidays and Ukrainian traditions. You will learn a lot of interesting and useful information which will help you in your choice of Flowers and Gifts for delivery in Ukraine.

As always we will appreciate your feedback.

With warmest regards,

Ukraine Gift Delivery suport.