H O L I D A Y S

There are many holidays celebrated in Ukraine. They can be divided in three groups: all-national, political and religious ones. Some of them have an ancient origin and others appeared in Ukrainian calendars quite recently. All official holidays are marked with red in Russian calendars and are days-off.

Here is the list of main Ukrainian holidays and some comments.

January 1. New Year.
This is everybody's favorite holiday. Decorating the Christmas tree, going to New Year's parties, setting fireworks, getting presents, - we love all this and impatiently wait for New Year's eve to come.

January 7. Orthodox Christmas.
A great deal of old Ukrainian customs that go back to centuries ago are connected with Christmas. They are fortune telling, singing Christmas carols, cooking traditional Ukrainian Christmas dishes, going to church. People are especially nice to each other. There are lots of charity arrangements for orphants and homeless around Christmas.

February 14. St. Valentine's Day.
The Day of lovers, when we give presents and flowers to our sweethearts.

February 23.Men's Day
This day used to be Defense forces Day. Women give gifts to their men and thank them for being their defenders and providers:)

March 8. International Women's Day.
This day is hugely popular among women in Ukraine as they receive flowers and chocolates from the men they know. They should not do any housework on this day.

Easter Day
comes according to the lunar calendar. It could fall on any Sunday in April or May and is full of lovely traditions. Eggs are boiled and then painted brightly in different colours. Very special sweet Easter bread is baked, full of raisins. Often people will take food like the eggs and bread to the church to be blessed by a priest on Easter night. This is the day to stop and think about Jesus Christ's death for our salvation, about what we have to do to improve ourselves and the life around us.

First Sunday from Easter. Memorial Day.
People go to the cemeteries to put flowers on their relatives' graves.

50th day after Easter. Holy Trinity.
Celebrating God Father, God Son and God the Holy Spirit is one of the most favorite Ukrainian holidays. People go to churches and decorate their houses with field flowers.

May 1-2.
Originally the Day of International Solidarity of Workers, it became just a holiday of spring though communists make their traditional demonstrations on that day. People have picnics with their friends and relatives.

May 9. The Victory Day.
There is hardly a Russian family which would not suffer from Nazis in the Great Patriotic war 1941-1945. There is always a military parade involving all the people who took part in World War II. All the old uniforms are worn with the original medals. Their family and friends give these old soldiers flowers and congratulations.

August 24. Independence Day.
In 1991 independence was proclaimed and Ukraine became a Sovereign state. A very important holiday with parades and fireworks.

September 1. Education Day
The first day of school. Schoolers and college students go back to school after summer break.

Fist Sunday of October. Teachers' Day.
Students bring flowers and make school concerts to show appreciation to their teachers.

November 7-8.
We commemorate the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution that happened in 1917. History isn't something to be rewritten. Millions of people died in an attempt to realise their own ideas. They are all dead now, and History itself will decide who was right and who was wrong. We aren't to judge anybody, we are just to pray for the peace of their souls.