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 20th 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 6th 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!
