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CHRISTMAS IN A BOMB ROOM: Volunteers hand out food in Huljajpole, a village about five kilometers from the front line. Photo: KATERYNA KLOCHKO / EPA / NTBU Ukrainians in traditional clothes sing Christmas carols in a subway car. Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTBU Ukrainians in traditional clothes at the subway station. Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTB
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CHRISTMAS IN A BOMB ROOM: Volunteers hand out food in Huljajpole, a village about five kilometers from the front line. Photo: KATERYNA KLOCHKO / EPA / NTB
For the first time, the official Christmas celebration has been held in Ukraine on December 25 – together with the West.
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Ukraine’s Christmas celebration has had a different symbolic meaning this year than just the religious one:
In July this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj signed a law moving the official Christmas celebration from January 7 to December 25. Thus, the Christmas celebration in Ukraine has been held on Christmas Day this year.
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A traditional Ukrainian Christmas celebration, on a non-traditional day, at a church in the village of Kryvorivnya in western Ukraine. Photo: IGOR TKACHENKO / EPA / NTBEA traditional Ukrainian Christmas celebration, on a non-traditional day, at a church in the village of Kryvorivnya in western Ukraine. Photo: IGOR TKACHENKO / EPA / NTB
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A traditional Ukrainian Christmas celebration, on a non-traditional day, at a church in the village of Kryvorivnya in western Ukraine. Photo: IGOR TKACHENKO / EPA / NTB
In the explanation of the change to the law, which was passed this summer, it is stated that the aim of the change of the date is to “leave the Russian heritage”, including that which goes to “impose the celebration of Christmas” on 7 January.
Reference is also made to Ukraine’s “tireless, successful struggle” for its own identity, and “the desire of all Ukrainians to live their lives with their own traditions and celebrations”, writes AP.
But the mood to move the Ukrainian Christmas began long before this summer:
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: Ukrainian soldiers in Brigade 102 sing Christmas into a bomb shelter in the village of Huljajpole, around five kilometers from the front line. Photo: KATERYNA KLOCHKO / EPA / NTB
The blessing of the Church
Already last year, some Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on a different date than before.
Then the Orthodox Church in Ukraine decided that the faithful could break with tradition and celebrate Christmas on December 25 – if they wanted to.
– It is another part of the marking that “we belong to the West, Russia belongs to Eastern Europe”. It is a mark of distance from Russia, said professor emeritus Kristian Gerner at Lund University to VG at the time.
NEW TRADITIONS: A traditional Ukrainian Christmas celebration, on a non-traditional day, at a church in the village of Kryvorivnya in western Ukraine. Photo: IGOR TKACHENKO / EPA / NTB
Ukraine has – like Russia – used to celebrate Christmas on 6 and 7 January, according to the Julian calendar. Norway and the West use the Gregorian calendar with December 24 and 25 as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Long church dispute
Ukraine has been under the Russian Orthodox Church since the 17th century, but today is divided between two churches.
For many years there has been a dispute between the Orthodox churches, which is about disagreement about the relationship with Russia.
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A resident of Huljajpole, in the Zaporizhzhia region, takes a picture of a decorated Christmas tree. The village is destroyed by Russian bombs. Photo: KATERYNA KLOCHKO / EPA / NTBEThe bombed church in Huljajpole, in the Zaporizhzhia region, near the front line. Photo: KATERYNA KLOCHKO / EPA / NTB
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A resident of Huljajpole, in the Zaporizhzhia region, takes a picture of a decorated Christmas tree. The village is destroyed by Russian bombs. Photo: KATERYNA KLOCHKO / EPA / NTB
The First Church, which does not recognize the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church, completely broke with the Russian one in 2019.
Then the Patriarch of Constantinople issued a declaration recognizing the Ukrainian Church as self-governing. This shook a centuries-old agreement that the patriarch in Moscow should have authority over the church in Ukraine.
The other, which has been a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, announced after Russia’s invasion in 2022 that it was severing ties with Moscow, and considered itself autonomous.
But the congregation has continued to follow the same calendar as the Russian church, and will celebrate Christmas on January 7, AP writes.
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A Ukrainian soldier gives a flower to a woman wearing traditional clothes Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTBEAnother Ukrainian soldier, here at the front line in Donetsk, on what is the day of the new official Christmas celebration in Ukraine. Photo: THOMAS PETER / Reuters / NTB
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A Ukrainian soldier gives a flower to a woman wearing traditional clothes Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTB
The church, which has been under Moscow, has been accused by Kyiv of doing the Russians’ business in the war. Certain priests have been accused of treason. Many Ukrainians have not believed that they have really broken with the Moscow Patriarch.
Kirill, who is the supreme leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, is a very important supporter of Russian President Putin.
Among other things, he made headlines when he said in October that Putin was appointed by God to rule Russia, has stated that Ukraine consists of “evil forces” and that the war is a fight against “immoral Western values”.
In November this year, he received this year’s presidential award from Putin. The justification stated, among other things, that he had “contributed to strengthening the unity of the Russian nation”.
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People sing carols in traditional clothes at a metro station, on the new official day of Christmas celebrations in Ukraine. Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTB People sing Christmas carols in traditional clothes at a metro station, on the new official day of Christmas celebrations in Ukraine. Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTB People sing Christmas carols in traditional clothes at a metro station, on the new official day of Christmas celebrations in Ukraine. Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTB
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People sing carols in traditional clothes at a metro station, on the new official day of Christmas celebrations in Ukraine. Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters / NTBPublished:
Published: 26.12.23 at 01:20
2023-12-26 00:20:09
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