Christmas in Kyiv

Walter Kish

The Christmas shopping season is in full swing here in Ukraine and the stores are chock-full of all the clichй hype and trappings that we have  gotten so used to in the West.

At the local TSUM (department store) you can easily find a wide variety of artificial Christmas trees and all the lights and decorations to make them sparkle! Last week, I bought a bottle of Crimean wine that was being sold with a little red Santa toque on top of the cork.

On Andriyivskiy Uzviz, Kyiv’s well-known tourist souvenir centre, the best-selling items are individually hand-carved wooden figurines of St. Nicholas in a variety of sizes, garbs and colours. Despite the relatively high price, from CDN$25 to $40, they are moving briskly.  Also selling well are Ukrainian Easter eggs fitted to be used as Christmas tree decorations.  Talk about mixing your religious metaphors!

For the past week, workers have also been decorating Kyiv’s Maidan, or Independence Square, setting up a giant 30-metre high Christmas tree.  It is impressive not only on account of its sheer size and dazzling lights but, for many of Kyiv’s older citizens, for the very fact that it is there. It was, after all, not that long ago that this country was still an officially atheistic state and any religious symbolism was viewed with not only disdain but suspicion.  That has all changed, of course, and with a certain vengeance.  Now the municipal government has found religion and is making political hay out of it.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mayor Omelchenko appear on the square dressed as St. Nicholas.

Religion has made a huge comeback in Ukraine, though many would claim that it never really disappeared, it just went underground.  Since independence, many old churches closed down by the Soviets have reopened, and a huge number of new churches have sprung up in every corner of Ukraine. It has become a common sight when I am driving around on Sundays to see overflow crowds standing outside of churches listening to the service on speakers because the interior is totally filled with worshippers.  The seminaries of all faiths are full of new priests in the making.  To someone who has grown used to the Canadian reality, where most priests tend to be fairly advanced in age, seeing such large numbers of young priests, many barely of shaving age, is truly inspiring.

A national survey in 2001 reported that some 40 percent of the Ukrainian population claimed to be atheists, but from the ever-rising church attendance and growth in the number of churches, I have some doubts as to the credibility of that number.  Recent statistics indicate that of the two dominant Christian faiths, there are almost 13,000 Greek Orthodox as well as 3,300 Greek Catholic parishes in Ukraine.

Protestant missionaries have also been making inroads against the traditional religions, with both the Baptists and Lutherans claiming several hundred thousand adherents each.  Also active are the Pentecostals and Seventh Day Adventists.  All told there are approximately 25,000 religious communities of all kinds in the country, and it is estimated that these are growing at a rate of close to a thousand a year.

So, while during Communist times the country would officially ignore Christmas and make New Year’s Day the grand winter holiday with “Did Moroz,” or Grandfather Frost, as the central character, nowadays, the country has reverted big-time to its traditional religious holiday observation of the season that starts with St. Nicholas Day on December 19 and ends with the blessing of the waters on “Yordan” on January 19. During that time, the churches will be packed, carols will be sung and families will gather around the table to celebrate the way their ancestors have for the past one thousand years. 

A merry Ukrainian Christmas to all from a merry Ukrainian Canadian in Kyiv!