New Year New Traditions?

Ukrainians love New Year's so much they celebrate it twice! Okay so it's not just because of the love of New Year's but more out of traditions. They celebrate New Year's on January 1st and also on January 14th, known as Old New Year's. According to the Julian calendar (the calendar used after the lunar calendar) January 1st falls on January 14th in the Gregorian calendar (the one most commonly used in the world today.)

On December 31st families gather for a large celebration, which includes lots of food and drinks. The last few minutes of the year the President Petro Poroshenko gives a speech which is broadcasted on TV and typically watched by most people. At 11:59 it is common to think about wishes for the new year, some people even write them on a small piece of paper, burn it and put the ashes in a glass of champagne for the midnight champagne toast. Like we have the ball in Times Square, they have a clock in Moscow, Russia that is shown on TV and when the clock strikes midnight the sounds of bells can be heard. It is traditional to cheers with champagne at midnight, followed by many greetings and wishes for the new year. The party doesn't end at midnight though and many people continue eating and drinking for a few hours or head into the center of town to see the New Year's tree (same as our Christmas tree) light up and there may be different programs for children that involve singing and dancing.

Since, of course, one celebration isn't enough the second falls two weeks later. On the 13th of January (or Old New Year's Eve) women of all ages dressed in traditional clothing sing щедрівки (pronounced shchedrivky) which translates to carols. They go to different houses to sing, or younger children will say rhymes and then the residents give them treats. It's sort of like a christmas caroling/halloween combination. Sometimes single men will dress as girls and lead the crowds around town to get treats.

At midnight, so starting on the 14th of January (or Old New Year's) the boys and men will fill their pockets with corn and go to houses of their friends and relatives to "sow" the corn and wish health and wealth for the host of the house.

There may be no midnight kiss tradition, but the traditions in Ukraine still are meant to bring happiness and luck in the New Year. Here's to hoping (both) my New Year's celebrations are memorable!

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends - Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993)

-M

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