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Even during the war, Orthodox Christmas is celebrated in Ukraine, despite the circumstances, far from normality.
Clinging to traditions like Christmas provides stability in times of war and brings routine to life in difficult circumstances. Soldiers at the front also celebrate Christmas and New Year, albeit on a modest scale and not in accordance with all customs.
Misfortune came to our house on February 24th and since then we don’t wear light clothes and fight against dark forces.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also acknowledged these special circumstances in his congratulations for the Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, when he said that traditions had to be broken this year in order to be able to preserve them. «During the holidays, it is traditional not to wear dark, old and worn-out clothes to prevent bad luck from coming into the house. But the misfortune came to our house on February 24th and since then we don’t wear light clothes and fight against dark forces.”
Legend:
In Ukraine there are twelve different dishes for Christmas. Soldiers in the Donetsk region eating together.
SRF/ZVG
A spoonful of sweets
In view of the fight against the Russian army, not everyone at the front is really in a celebratory mood. For example Constantine. He was stationed near the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine for a long time and sent SRF News a photo of his Christmas menu. “I took the photo in a destroyed house. This is the place where we try to regain our strength and warm up.” he says to SRF News.
Volunteers brought the traditional twelve dishes for Christmas yesterday. Constantine’s commander brought everyone a spoonful of kutya, a sweet grain dish traditionally eaten at Christmas in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Legend:
Food donations from volunteers for the front. Konstantin at the front in eastern Ukraine isn’t in the right mood to celebrate this year’s Orthodox Christmas.
SRF/ZVG
“Even if we all have these 12 dishes, I’m not really in the mood to celebrate,” says Konstantin. However, by no means all of them have a menu at the front like Konstantin does. A soldier from a Special Marine Brigade sends video of a pot with some meat on a wood stove and a bag of croutons on the bottom.
The video is commented off-screen by the soldier Igor with a curse word in Russian. The Marine Special Brigade was one of those units that tried to defend Mariupol to the last.
War wishes for Christmas
The level of celebration among the servicewomen and men also depends to a large extent on the location of the regiment in question and the circumstances at the front. Where exactly the soldiers are currently stationed is not disclosed in detail for security reasons.
Contrary to his nickname “Blues”, Pavel Agapov is in a good mood today. Today he not only celebrates Orthodox Christmas, but also his birthday.
Legend:
Two celebrations in one day: A soldier from Pawel’s brigade dressed up as Santa Claus to create a good atmosphere among the soldiers.
SRF/ZVG
He tries to take the situation with humor: “The holidays are fun for us. The enemy doesn’t allow us to relax. But we fulfill our duties over the New Year and Christmas.” Pavel is part of a mobile defense group protecting an important infrastructure object of the Ukrainian army. So he writes SRF News: “The best gift for my birthday are shot down enemy aerial objects.”
Legend:
Christmas Mass and Decoration: Epiphanius, Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, today decorated members of the 114th Vigilante Brigade.
SRF/ZVG
In the capital Kyiv there was already a Christmas present for the Orthodox Christians today. For the first time in 338 years, the mass in the cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra was held in Ukrainian today to mark the birth of Christ. Detachment from the Russian Orthodox Church has been taking its course for years in Ukraine, culminating in the founding of its own national Orthodox Church three years before Russia launched a major attack.
Its head now held mass today in the cathedral of the monastery, which had been subordinate to the offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church for centuries. Fighters from the local vigilante group were also honored there today by the head of the Ukrainian church. This, too, is a break with several traditions.