Christmas in Ukraine is celebrated on January 7 and is an important family holiday. On Christmas Eve, families celebrate Holy Evening and wait until the first star appears before eating a traditional meal that may include kutia, a dish made from cooked wheat, poppy seeds, honey, pecans, and hot water. Families also bring hay into their homes as a reminder of the manger and may sing koliadky, or Ukrainian Christmas carols, including the famous "Shchedryk," which became the basis for "Carol of the Bells."

1. CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS IN UKRAINE

2. Christmas in Ukraine is
celebrated on January 7
For the Ukrainian people Christmas is
a very important family holiday.

3. Holy Evening
Sviaty Vechir, or Holy
Evening, is the
Ukrainian Christmas
Eve. Families celebrate
with special food.
Families wait until the
first star appears in the
sky before beginning to
eat and may attend
church services late
that night.

4. Kutia – traditional Christmas dish
You will need:
1 pint (2 cups) cooked
wheat
6 tablespoons ground
poppy seeds
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup roughly
chopped pecans
3/4 cup hot water
1. To cook wheat:
Dry wheat in 205F oven
for 1 hour, stir
occasionally.
Wash, soak in cold water
overnight. Next morning,
bring wheat to boiling
point, simmer 3-4 hours,
until kernels burst open.
2. To prepare the
poppy seeds (sorry I
don’t have any images
of this process):
Scald poppy seed,
simmer 3-5 minutes.
Drain, grind twice
using the finest blade
of food chopper.
3. Add ground poppy
seeds to wheat
4. Combine honey and
hot water.
Add to wheat.
5. Finally add your roughly chopped pecans.
Enjoy your Cristmas dinner!

5. DIDUKH
Hay (didukh) may be brought into the house
to remind those gathered of the manger in
which Christ was born.

6. Koliadky (Caroling)
• At the end of the Sviata
Vecheria the family often sings
Ukrainian Christmas carols.
• The Ukrainian song
“Shchedryk” became the basis
for the world famous
Christmas carol “Carol of the
Bells”.

7. Traditional Ukrainian carol
“Shchedryk”

8. “Shchedryk” in English