Month: December 2017

Soon the land will be covered with snow, your friends and relatives will choose gifts for the whole family, everybody will rise champagne-full glasses and make wishes. Yes, it is December - that very magic and fairy-tale Christmas time! Our tour guides are opening new routes for you in Ukraine and want to tell about our Ukrainian winter holidays. Let the magic begin! All Ukrainian kids are waiting for 19th of December – St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas lived in ancient times and people said that he was a very kind-hearted man. He helped poor and was an Orthodox priest, miracle-maker, a Maecenas and a magician. At night of December 19, the day of his memory, St. Nicholas carries presents for children, puts sweets under the pillow, congratulates everybody with upcoming winter and blesses on good deeds. The New Year is one of the oldest and most popular calendar holidays. This is probably the only event that is celebrated annually in all countries on all continents, which people know, love and look forward to. In Ukraine, the tradition of New Year's celebration has a long history: our ancestors celebrated this holiday in different times: in March, September, January, and now, 2 times in year – 31st of December in new style and on the 13th of January by old-style calendar. People believed that the sky opens on New Year's Eve and you can ask God for anything. The evening of December 31 was called “generous” or “rich” and a rich table was prepared for it. In Ukraine, the traditional holiday symbol for the New Year for a long time was not a green tree, but “Didukh” - the first gathered sheaf of wheat. In Ukraine we use Georganic calendar that’s why Ukrainians celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day later than in Western Europe countries – on