The Russian war of aggression is also causing traditions to change in everyday life. For the first time, more people celebrate Christmas on December 25th. However, a relic from Soviet times remains.
For the second year in a row, Ukraine is spending Christmas in a state of full-scale war against Russia. The Russian attack on February 24, 2022 marked the historic break with Moscow. The current holiday season represents another milestone: for the first time, the number of people who celebrate Christmas on December 25th prevails instead of on January 7th according to the Julian calendar, as is common in many Orthodox countries.
December 25th has been a public holiday in Ukraine for several years now, and the trend towards this date has been observed for several years, especially in larger cities. With the exception of a few regions in the west of the country, Ukraine is an Orthodox country. Internationally, however, there are enough Orthodox churches that do not follow the Julian calendar and prefer December 25th. For many Ukrainians, this raised the question of whether it wouldn’t make more sense to celebrate Christmas together with the rest of the world.
The major Russian invasion accelerated this trend, and the Ukrainian parliament removed January 7th from the list of public holidays. The most important Orthodox Church in Ukraine had already set December 25th. This makes the 2023/2024 holiday season the first in which Christmas is officially only celebrated on December 25th.
New Year remains the more important holiday
In everyday life there are still people who will celebrate on January 7th. But their number has fallen significantly again. According to a study by the market research company Kantor Ukraine, more than 60 percent of Ukrainians have clearly chosen December 25th. Before February 24th, 2022, the situation looked completely different: only 18 percent had only celebrated on December 25th. Around a quarter were already planning to celebrate on both days.
However, January 1st remains a more important holiday in Ukraine compared to Christmas. This is also shown by the Kantor Ukraine survey: 70 percent of Ukrainians planned to give gifts for New Year, 41 percent for Christmas. This tradition is a relic of the Soviet era, which enhanced a secular celebration at the expense of a religious family holiday. There can be no real parties in Ukraine this year either: in all regions except Zakarpattia there is a nighttime curfew that will not be lifted for New Year’s Eve. Therefore, 57 percent of Ukrainians tend to simply sit down with family members.
New Year’s Eve in the hallway or in the air raid shelter
However, last year’s experience showed that such meetings, especially in Kiev, are likely to ultimately take place in the hallway or in the air raid shelter – and that must be expected this year too. The number of rocket and drone attacks on the capital has increased significantly in recent weeks. Last year on December 31st, Kiev was bombarded with rockets during the day, followed promptly after midnight by an attack with more than 30 drones. The champagne to toast the New Year therefore had to be drunk mainly in the hallway – it is safer there because there are at least two walls of the room up to the window.
Such scenes will probably happen again in less than a week. Overall, there is a complicated atmosphere in Christmas Kiev. The large Christmas tree on Sophienplatz in the upper town is even smaller than 2022, which can be seen as a symbol of the difficult year that did not go as hoped militarily. But even though there is once again no real Christmas market, the city has felt more festive in recent days. This could have something to do with the fact that there have been no major power outages yet, the street lights have remained on and therefore the decorations can be seen. Because cafes and restaurants also have electricity, songs from their Christmas playlists can also be heard on the streets.
At first glance, there are a few more traditional company celebrations taking place than last year. However, if you talk to restaurant owners, you quickly come to the conclusion that this impression is misleading. One can only guess whether this is due to the lack of military victories, the difficult financial situation of the people or the unclear prospects for 2024. “Not celebrating will help anyone anyway, not even the soldiers at the front. That doesn’t bring us any closer to victory,” says Andrij, a small business owner, summing up the opinion of many. And according to Kantor Ukraine, 53 percent expect 2024 to be a better year than 2023. That is one percent less than in the previous year, but this value cannot be taken for granted right now, in December 2023.