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Ukrainian Christmas marked by unique traditions

While most Albertans are now thinking about taking down their trees, there is a large cultural group in this province still waiting to celebrate the birth of Christ and the new year.
The Ukrainian Shumka Dancers enjoy a whirlwind moment with Uncle Drosselmyer during Clara’s Dream last month at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.
The Ukrainian Shumka Dancers enjoy a whirlwind moment with Uncle Drosselmyer during Clara’s Dream last month at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.

While most Albertans are now thinking about taking down their trees, there is a large cultural group in this province still waiting to celebrate the birth of Christ and the new year.

Ukrainian Christmas, as well as the New Year’s Eve celebrations known as Malanka, are yet to come for those in the Byzantine traditions that still mark these holidays on the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar which is in common use. Christmas on the Julian calendar falls on Jan. 7, but the festivities will begin today, Jan. 6. Malanka falls on Jan. 14.

But while this contemporary tradition persists in the Ukrainian community on the Prairies, which is among the largest Ukrainian communities in the world outside Ukraine, elements of much older traditions have begun to make a resurgence in the province – especially in the rural areas.

Dr. Natalie Kononenko, an expert in Ukrainian folklore at the University of Alberta, has since 2009 been involved in a research project documenting stories from smaller towns and villages where the Ukrainian communities are shrinking but older traditions are helping to keep the culture alive.

While most people know traditions like the meal of 12 vegetarian dishes served on Christmas Eve, for example, some of the more interesting elements are sometimes overlooked.

“Ukrainians want to invite their friends for a meal, but people probably don’t know about some of the more fun and funny stuff,” she said. “You’re supposed to feed (the 12 dishes) to your animals on Christmas Eve, your farm animals. And there’s also a belief that on Christmas Eve farm animals can talk.”

An old tradition of taking a paper star on a wooden frame caroling to neighbours’ houses, often while clad in costumes, has seen a resurgence out in some of the smaller communities across the Prairies.

“Some of the places I’ve interviewed, it’s usually young people, and one of the fun things is they hide their identity too so one of the fun things is to try to figure out who is home,” Kononenko said.

Another aspect of the older traditions that is seeing a big resurgence is the idea of fortune telling. She said Malanka parties began to crop up in smaller communities as fundraisers for churches – dwindling populations meant it became more and more difficult to keep the lights on.

As these parties gained in popularity, some people looked to make their own event stand out by introducing some new elements to draw the crowds.

A fortune-telling chicken, which is said to be able to predict the harvest, was an extra perk for one person Kononenko spoke with.

“You take two chickens and don’t feed them all day,” she said. “Then you put a bowl of water and a bowl of grain, and you see what they go for.”

If it goes for the grain, it will be a good harvest. If it goes to the water, it will be very rainy, and if it goes to neither, it will be a bad harvest.

She has also heard of a great many more private fortune-telling activities that people have been taking up, although in many cases as more of a lark than as an earnest effort to predict the future.

Eavesdropping on neighbours for certain keywords or throwing boots in the winter are said to give young women an idea of whether they will get married and from whence their husbands will come, for example.

“It’s done mostly for fun. It’s mostly a party thing,” Kononenko said.

In an era where cultural assimilation appears to be happening at a faster and faster rate, she said these unique traditions are an important part of keeping a distinct Ukrainian culture alive on the Prairies.

For more information about the project, visit www.ukrainealive.ualberta.ca.

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