Advancing on our tour of Christmas/holiday traditions around the world, Ukraine is one that has caught my eye.
In Ukraine, the holidays begin around December 4 with the Feast of the Presentation and continue on to Malanka, a new years celebration.
On December 24, families will gather for the Holy Supper (Sviata Vecheria) one of the most important Ukrainian traditions. The dinner table can sometimes be seen having an assortment of wheat which represents the ancestors. Hay is also spread on the table and even the floor as a reminder of the manger in Bethlehem. The supper consists of twelve meatless dishes representing the twelve apostles who shared the last meal with Christ. Meat and dairy are typically not seen during this meal, instead families dine on items such as fish, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Something else that households often do is to wait until the first star appears in the evening sky before eating. Children often serve as look outs, watching for the star that symbolizes the birth of Christ. Once the star has appeared in the sky, families gather for a prayer and then eat the meal by candlelight.
Upon looking at Ukraines Christmas tree when visiting the FM gardens I was intrigued by its decorations and the use of... spider webs! These spider webs symbolize a Ukrainian legend. There once was a family that was so poor, they could not afford to decorate their Christmas tree. After the family went to bed mournful, spiders would come out of the woodwork and weave intricate webs on the tree as a form of decoration. In the morning, the suns rays would shine through the windows of the home and turned the spiders webbing into silver and gold! Sounds like my kind of tree!
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