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            Ukrainian Customs and Traditions in Ukraine

Traditions in Ukraine are interesting and unique, they are versatile and widespread! It is interesting that your young people are pleased to keep them – the tourists tell us. It is really true. This fact confirms the existence of the folk soul, gratitude to our ancestors, deep memory (the scientists call it the archetypical memory) and perception of generation connection. Ukrainian traditions, living and rather interesting folk heritage has been formed for many centuries. That is why despite our culturoligic European status and relatively short history of state we can take care of the spiritual continuity and we know well our native unwritten laws – the Ukrainian customs and traditions.

Ukrainian customs and traditions

The words “custom” and “habit” are paronymous words in the Ukrainian language. It is an element of our everyday life which is bred-in-the-bone – we take it in with mother's milk, with singing of the beloved grandmother or with the legends of our land. It is our pleasure to share the merry Ukrainian customs with the guests of our country, invite them to celebrate Maslenitsa (Pancake Week) or Ivana Cupala holiday, give very beautiful wedding songs, amulet or embroidered towel, raise the glass of vodka or wine and offer a round loaf of bread or treat the guests with the delicious ritual food – pancakes, kollyva or Easter cake. And to share the joy of unity of the countries, times and people.

Our guests notice the main regularity: traditions in Ukraine are closely connected with the everyday, calendar and religious life. It is quite natural. Like in many nations, a lot of Ukrainian traditions and events were connected with the agricultural calendar. Harvest songs, Christmas carols or merry songs to meet the spring have accompanied the seasonal works since long ago. It was impossible to work hard without household magic rituals and to rest without masquerades, entertainments or ritual greetings and going round. Natural hospitability and cheerfulness was passed on from generation to generation exactly through these everyday Ukrainian customs.

Family is very important for the Ukrainians. Its origination and existence is accompanied by many Ukrainian rituals and rites, Ukrainian customs and traditions. Making a formal proposal of marriage (in a traditional ceremony with matchmakers coming to the house of the prospective bride's father), engagement, arrangements and covering the head of the bride (a move from the maidenhead to the married life), bachelorette party (hen party) or wedding train, invitation and wedding march with many ransoms for the bride – our contemporaries follow all these merry elements with pleasure. By the way, our girls are very ‘tolerant’ now – if they do not like the future husband, then they would give a baked pumpkin to the matchmakers in accordance with the Ukrainian custom. And the young couple really respects the parents – they bow from the waist to them after receiving round bread with salt. Generally speaking, the ceremony of marriage is called here “fun” (‘veselye’) – it is real fun!

Ukrainian customs

Ukrainian customs connected to the birth of a child are filled with the rites and using of amulets. And also with many omens traditional in our country. The pregnant women are not recommended to meet the sick persons, look at the snakes or have their hair cut, sew or cut, buy something for a future child. The less people know about the future pregnancy – the better. Men and some women are not allowed to visit a newborn baby during the first 40 days. The Ukrainian rite of baptism is a very important one. It is a big sin to refuse the title of a godparent. A traditional Ukrainian crosswise haircut is performed at the first anniversary of birth. The Ukrainian omens are brought together with the Orthodox ones in these ritual actions.

Traditions in Ukraine are connected with the Old-Ukrainian heathen attributes. The youth, mischievous, poetic and very old holiday of Ivana Cupala (the night to July, 7), like in many Slavic nations, was connected with the Day of solstice some time ago. Nowadays you can see the girls to sing and dance in a ring and put the wreaths made of the flowers into the water and the guys jump over the fire and look for the blossoming fern. There is one more old Ukrainian tradition connected with the turn of the sun – January 7 (now – Christmas). Long time ago people used to tell fortunes in that winter time. Nowadays the Christmas Ukrainian customs include fortune-telling and addressing to the natural forces. Just before the Old New Year (January 13) children and teenagers still go round carol-singing. If you can sing or wish to celebrate someone you can earn a little of Ukrainian hrivnas or sweets. These children going round looks like American Halloween. One more Ukrainian tradition is to sanctify the water at Epiphany and believe in its wonderful and healing features at the night prior to the holiday. We clean our apartments on the Great Thursday (prior to Easter). We color the eggs and bake Easter cakes. We pray for the dead at the Commemoration Day. We see the winter off and meet the spring on Maslenitsa. We sanctify the fields and decorate our homes with the flowers on Trinity Sunday.

Ukrainian omens

And now a few words about the Ukrainian omens for you not to be very surprised spending your time in Ukraine. Put something on inside out is considered to be an omen that you will be beaten. Do not give anything across the threshold not to quarrel – better step on the threshold or even more better – come inside. We guess it is the evident sign of the famous Ukrainian hospitability! If you wish your future husband to be red-haired – do not eat up (however, it is impossible to do – the dishes are very tasty). If you wish your new home to be prosperous – let a cat be the first to come in. If your aim is loneliness – have a sit at the corner of the table and then by the Ukrainian omens, you won’t get married. If you wish to give the flowers – buy the odd number of them (the even number is given at the funerals).

And if you are not afraid of all these traditions – visit Ukraine! You will make sure in the cities and villages, in every family, in children day care centers and schools, at weddings, baptism and anniversary ceremonies that the traditions in Ukraine are real folk property and you will be given part of it from the open heart!

Kostiuk Tetiana

                                 

Folk dance

                                       

Folk dance. In prehistoric and ancient times dance was a ritual means of communicating with nature and the divine forces. Only isolated elements of ancient folk calendar ritual and cult dances have survived through the centuries. With the introduction of Christianity in Ukraine (see Christianization of Ukraine), the archaic relics of these dances blended with Christian rituals and were adapted to the church calendar and Christian festivals. Certain mentions of ancient dances can be found in written sources, but the largest number of them can be found in ancient Ukrainianfolk songs. The oldest Slavic word for the dance is plias; the modern word tanets was borrowed from West European languages.

Ancient Ukrainian dances were actually agricultural dance games (khorovody; see Khorovod); their basic form was the circle, associated with the cult of the sun, the greatest life-giving power. The most widely known are the spring khorovody (circular choral dances), such as kryvyi tanets, podolianochka, perepilka, yahilochka, and verbova doshchechka. In time, the vesnianky-hahilky were enriched by new themes, and some of them conveyed the image of life under serfdom (zelman, bondarivna, and others). In general, the vesnianky-hahilky have a lyrical character; their movements are gentle, tranquil, and restrained.

In the summer the dances of the Kupalo festival, which was probably connected with the pre-Christian feast of Rusalii, were performed. In the Hutsul region, on the eve of Saint George's day, girls performed a ritual dance called lelia, which was reminiscent of the old Roman festival of roses (dies rosae, rosalia, rosatio) and invoked the happiness of love. Dances were also performed during the Whitsuntide celebrations (see Pentecost). In the late summer and early autumn the harvest feast (obzhynky) was celebrated by circular dances (obzhynkovi khorovody), which constituted a dramatization of the song content and an imitation of agricultural work (see Harvest rituals). The harvest circular songs (see Harvest songs) were performed mainly by women, and the scything ones by men. The pre-Lenten carnivalperiod (miasnytsi) was also the time for weddings, which have in part preserved the traditional ritual character of dance. The carnival dances are performed primarily by women. Such dances as podushkovyi, kocherha, and stilchyk are mimetic representations of the wedding songs. The wedding dances are similar in certain respects to the ancient funeral dances.

Ukrainian ritual dances are performed mostly to the accompaniment of a churchlike, antiphonic chant. They are rarely performed to music. The chorals most typical of these dances are supplicative and commemorative in nature. The ritual folk dance has been little studied. It is presumed that the separation of song and dance began during the early Middle Ages, as the ancient cult rites became divided with the introduction of Christianity. One part was retained in the form of folk dancing; the other was taken over by professional dancers, who replaced the song in the dance with mime. Dance became a form of pure entertainment. New types of traveling dancers (the skomorokhy) appeared. They performed their art in squares or in palaces, where they entertained the princes and nobles.

Ukrainian folk dances can be divided into two groups: those performed to the accompaniment of songs and those performed to music. Musical instruments (husli, flutes, horns, tsymbaly, kobza, and others [see Folk musical instruments]) were introduced later as a means of maintaining the rhythm of the dance. The dances are classified as circular and topical, the latter including dances that reflect folkways, occupational and humorous dances, and others. The majority of Ukrainian folk dances closely resemble the circular dance types but are enriched by figurative intricacies; the pair and solo dances evolved from this type. Their structure is linear, even geometrical, showing a tendency towards imaginative patterns (circle, cross, serpent, chain, rows, and others), spatiality, and rounded lines. They unfold in a horizontal direction, except for the vertical dances of the mountain peoples. The circular dances are accompanied by a song. The choreographic image depends on the song's content. These dances contain many ancient elements and are ritually allegoric or symbolic, but their technique is somewhat poorer because, as group dances, they are subordinated to one leading performer.

Through their movements, gestures, and type of music, the topical dances portray events that occur in nature or in everyday life. While they have a variety of steps and figures, their content is simple. Performed to a song that has a 2/4 musical beat, they are based on one or two steps, are quite diverse in composition, and are arranged in an orderly and successive manner. The dances that are most popular today in Ukraine are those that portray the people's way of life. They are performed at weddings, dances, parties, and so on.

Performed originally by females only, the following dances are now performed by men and women: metelytsia, Kateryna, Vasylykha, dribushka, horlytsia, volynianka,and tropotianka. At one time exclusively men's dances, the following are now also performed as male-female pair, group, or solo dances: chumak, hopak, chaban, veselyi, vivchar, ocheret, zaporozhets, kozachok, and arkan. The kolomyika, popular in Western Ukraine and performed with a variety of steps (holubka, merezhka) to the accompaniment of dialogue-type songs, is reminiscent of the ancient circular dances and has a 2/4 musical beat. Ukraine's historic past is reflected in men's dances, for example, the Gonta, which symbolizes heroism, manliness, and patriotism. The hopak, which features physical strength and almost acrobatic agility, has, in time, become transformed into a pair or group dance. Its theme is a youth's wooing of a girl. The youth executes ingenious leaps, kicks, and squats in order to gain the girl's favor. The theme of labor finds expression in such topical dances as kravchyk, shevchyk, lisoruby, and kovali; various movements in these dances convey the intricacies of a trade or occupation and the dexterity of the artisan. There are also humorous dances (eg, bychky, husak, kozlyk, and others) that depict the behavior ofanimals and birds.

Podlachian folk dances (eg, haiduk, kozak, shatalier) have retained most of their ancient elements. In Slobidska Ukraine such ancient dances as dudochka, horlytsia, and zaveriukha have been preserved, and in southern Ukraine there are still traces of the old Cossack dances (eg, zaporozhets). Lemko folk dances (eg, koshychok, kolechko, obertas, kyvanyi, Dzhurylo, and striasuvanets) have preserved some ancient elements, but they have been influenced considerably by Slovak folk culture. Transcarpathian folk dances have movements not know elsewhere in Ukraine.

Because of their recurring motifs, Ukrainian folk dances, like those of other peoples of the world, appear as a whole to be slightly repetitious in presentation. Yet, even though they do have many common elements, they vary by region in choreographic method, content, and dynamics. Ukrainian folk dances, unlike those of other peoples, were not affected strongly by court dances. Therefore they preserved their virtuosity and originality for a longer period of time. It should be emphasized that the female in Ukrainian folk dances has a dignified role: she dances gracefully and behaves modestly; she may at times act flirtatiously, but she always expresses her feelings in a restrained manner. The esthetic beauty and originality of the Ukrainian folk dances are augmented by the colorful folk costumes of the dancers and the melodic musical accompaniment.

Since the 1950s, with the growth of professional and amateur dance troupes in Ukrainian SSR and later, in Ukraine, a greater repertoire of folk dances, based both on traditional folk culture and on new choreographic improvisations, has been created. The dances reflect history (zaporozhtsi), a former folkway (chumatski radoshchi), contemporary rural life (na kukurudzianomu poli, kolhospna polka, kolhospne vesillia, novorichna metelytsia), or contemporary industrial life (shakhtiarskyi sviatkovyi).

Kostiuk Tetiana

Christmas in Ukraine

                                                                                      Christmas in Ukraine

Christmas is a wonderful holiday, it’s a feast of Christ’s birth and it’s celebrated on the eve of 7th of January. In the mid-4th century it was established by the Roman Catholic church as a separate feast and was celebrated on 25 December according to the Julian calendar. In the 10th century with the introduction of the Christianity into Rus it was fused with the local pagan celebrations of the sun’s return or the commencement of the agricultural year. In some areas was used the pre-Christian name of the feast — Koliada. The Christmas Eve is considered as the most interesting part of Christmas as it has ritual and magic acts aimed at ensuring a good harvest and a life of plenty. Caroling is a characteristic feature of the feast, it expresses respect for the master of the house and his children, and sometimes it’s accompanied by a puppet theatre (vertep). The religious festival lasts three days and involves Christmas liturgies, caroling, visiting and entertaining relatives and acquaintances. The Christmas tree was adopted from Western Europe, but today it’s the element of the New Year celebration in Ukraine.
The «holy supper» on Christmas Eve is a meal of 12 ritual meatless and milkless dishes. The order of the dishes and dishes themselves aren’t uniform everywhere. In the Hutsul region, for example, the dishes were served in the following order: beans, fish, boiled potato, dumplings, cabbage rolls, kutya, potatoes mashed with garlic, stewed fruit, plums with beans and some other dishes.
Christmas is the holiday when all members of the family gather together. This is the holiday of joy. Comparatively with Great Britain and some other countries Ukrainian people don’t exchange presents on this holiday. For many years only religious people observed this holiday, but today it’s an official state holiday. Children like to have fun on this holiday, they go from door to door, sing carols and people give sweets to them. As it was already mentioned, «Kutya» is a traditional Ukrainian Christmas dish. It’s cooked by mothers and godchildren take it to their godparents. Although this holiday appeared long ago but nowadays many people still like to go church and listen to Christmas sermons.

Zhuravel Ann

Traditional Ukrainian songs

Traditional Ukrainian songs are famous all over the world. For many centuries, Ukrainian songs are carrying away people’s minds and souls. An incredible sense and sensibility of melody and lyrics, rich set of instruments create the unique rhythmical structure. Traditional songs have been transferred to every new generation with great honor and pleasure. Starting from early childhood children are brought up in the atmosphere of national art. At kindergartens, schools and institutes children, pupils and students are encouraged to participate in various plays dedicated to Ukrainian traditions, history etc.  
Traditional Ukrainian songs are a spacious and rather general notion which determines several musical genres that are united into single division. Therefore one may hear wedding songs, historical songs, calendar and family songs and all of them are considered to be traditional. People always used music as means of expression. With the help of a song one could describe his or her happiness or ease the pain of loss or whatever. Along with the song there was a hope in a good and bright future, with the joyful singing people thanked generous land for wealthy harvest, with the happy songs Ukrainians glorified the newly born or newlyweds.  Thus it is clear that song has always played an extremely significant and essential part in every person’s life.
For many centuries it was a tradition to compose songs and music. Ukrainians are known to be immensely talented people with generous and sensible soul that easily percepts and experiences all emotions and feelings. With such characteristics Ukrainians have created thousands of various songs and musical pieces that have accompanied them throughout their whole life. During times of invasions Ukrainians used songs in order to encourage brave warriors, their noble deeds, to ease their fear and to fill them with the sense of moral support. Besides the nation itself was in a constant need of moral support while the atmosphere of war and battles depressed and horrified Ukrainians. Along with the songs one believed in all good things and state of freedom and independence. The vast majority of historical songs are describing stories that are based on true events. Moreover such songs are glorifying national heroes who have bravely fought for the freedom of the native land and people. It’s rather difficult to image how a music can bring relieve and sense of mental equilibrium.
Traditional Ukrainian songs show not only the talent and mastery of composing but reveal the general characteristics and qualities of Ukrainians in broad terms. Numerous family traditions and rituals, relationship between family members, places and lands where people lived are vividly depicted in Ukrainian songs. It seems that none domestic or harvest or any other work was done without singing corresponding songs. Very often songs have escorted numerous feasts where people united to sing all together, that was an entertaining part with was preceded with dances and funny competitions with music certainly. During such events people preferred to sing humorous songs that created light, free and easy pastime. Young people in turns sang numerous songs where their feelings were described but of course it had ambiguous meaning while it was uneasy to say whether girl or boy had some feelings indeed or they were just kidding.
All this created an incredible atmosphere that helped people to enjoy everyday life and overcome any difficulties or tough times. One should not be cast down because no matter what life goes on and so are we. Ukrainians preferred to find consolation and comfort with the help of the song and music, where merry melodies were healers.

Кельвіча Данила

Ukrainian borscht recipe (рецепт украинского борща)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1kg beef (on the bone)
• 2 liters water 
• 50 ml vegetable oil
• 1 beet (boil)
• 1 onion 
• 200g cabbage 
• 1 carrot 
• Parsley to taste
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  
  1)Prepare all the ingredients. Put the beet in a small saucepan, cover with water (the water should completely cover the beet) and boil until cooked.
  2)Take a medium sized saucepan, put a piece of beef (preferably use a piece of beef with bone) in it and cover with water. The water should completely cover the beef, while it is boiling. Remove the foam, which allocates while water is boiling. As soon as the water starts to boil reduce heat and simmer for an hour and a half without a lid. At the end add some salt. If you wish, you can add spices or a little vinegar to remove the peculiar smell of boiled meat.3)Chop the cabbage.
  4)Grate peeled raw carrot.
  5)Grade boiled beet.
  6)Chop the onion finely.
  7)Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. Fry the onion for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
  8)Add the cabbage.
  9)Add some salt and cook the cabbage and onion for 5-6 minutes over medium heat
  10)Add the carrot.
  11)Add the tomato paste, stir, cover the pan with a lid and stew for 4-5 minutes over medium heat.
  12)Add some fresh parsley.
  13)Squeeze a couple of cloves of garlic.
  14)Take the meat out of the broth, cut into cubes and let it cool down. Carefully put the vegetables from the pan in the broth. Put the broth with vegetables on the fire, add the bay leaf, bring to the boil and cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes.
  15)Add the grated beet and diced meat, remove the saucepan from heat, cover and let it infuse for 10-15 minutes. Check for salt.