While many people are winding down from the festive season, for those of Orthodox faith, including many with Ukrainian heritage, the most important celebration of the season will happen on Thursday and Friday of this week. According to the Julian calendar that pre-dates the more commonly used Gregorian calendar, Jesus was born on Jan. 7, often referred to as Ukrainian Christmas. However, the big feast and celebration begins on Jan. 6 or Christmas Eve.
For Joanne and Dwayne Ternovoy, their two sons Michael and Keynon and their Baba, Kathy Olason, this is the most holy celebration of the year.
“This is our Christmas … this is what has meaning. This is what our religion is based on and we follow it,” said Joanne Ternovoy, explaining that she is passing the tradition on to her two boys by teaching them the importance of Ukrainian Christmas. “We don’t exchange gifts or anything on this day because it is just about the birth of Christ.”
On Christmas Eve, the family will fast, not eating anything until the first star appears in the evening sky. Then they will sit down with friends, family and special guests to feast upon 12 meatless dishes made by Joanne and her mother. When preparing the meal, they use traditional recipes and cooking methods passed down from generation to generation. No meat or dairy products are used when cooking the meal. A few of the special dishes the family makes are kutia, a wheat dish with honey and poppy seeds, and beets with pedenky (mushrooms).
“My mom literally goes and picks and dries the mushrooms and those are (kept) especially for Christmas,” said Ternovoy.
She said that they usually try to have perch for fish but sometimes they have to substitute salmon or halibut. The borsch or beet soup is special in that it is made with white beans and contains no animal products. The family has varenyky or pyrohy, with a variety of fillings such as potato, plum, blueberries and poppy seed but no cream. There are several dishes that contain garlic - “We have a big pot of chopped garlic,” Ternovoy said.
Dessert is dried fruit compote, boiled with honey, lemon, cloves and a cinnamon stick.
Before the meal, the family sings Boh Predvichny or God Eternal and a passage called Christ is Born, Let us Glorify Him is read.
The table is set, with a small basket of hay on the floor underneath as a reminder of the humble place of Christ’s birth. An extra setting is placed at the table to remember the relatives that have passed away. A kolach or special braided bread is placed in the centre of the table with a beeswax candle in the middle of the table.
“We have a special star with a candle and we leave the light burning all night to welcome in any strangers,” Ternovoy explained.
As a young girl, she can remember going with her mother as they took food to elderly relatives that could not come to supper.
Traditionally, after dinner, they would clear the table of dishes but leave the food on the table. They would then talk and visit before going to midnight service at church. However, to accommodate some of the elder churchgoers, the Ukrainian Orthodox church now holds the Christmas service the next morning, Ternovoy explained.
On Christmas Day, along with other members of the church, the Ternovoy family will go around and sing Christmas carols to families in the community. The traditional greeting this time of year is Khrystos Razdayetsia (Christ is born) and the answer is Slavete Yeho (Let us glorify Him)! Ternovoy has a special Christmas Carol book with songs in both Ukrainian and English.
“We go to all the Babas’ houses and they greet us; we sing two or three songs for them. They always have a little tray of goodies for us or sometimes something to drink,” said Ternovoy. “One Baba has shooter glasses and she pours us a glass of orange juice and always has a little tray of goodies for us.”
The Christmas celebration is a very special time in the Ukrainian culture to share with family, friends and with the community.
