Hello everyone! It's hard to believe but we are living in the last days of 2019. I completely fell out of the writing spree as well as out of my photography hobby for almost 2 months. I've got a new job and now try to adjust to it and still fit in all the things I am used to doing.
I don't want to write a sum-up post because I simply don't like things like that. Maybe it's not very smart but I don't have a precise plan for each year because I don't want to expose myself to unnecessary stress. So I will say this: This year was full of different events, some were very positive others not so much. There were moments when I was extremely tired and moments of utter excitement. I worried a lot because my country is in big danger nowadays and I feel very irritated that it made into the most international news due to Trump impeachment and not due to the ongoing war with russia. Yes, the war is still in the active phase and a lot of Ukrainian soldiers got killed and wounded. Unfortunately, the mass media environment runs on scandals and everyday life is not making onto news screens and pages. It makes me very very sad but that the reality we all live in. I've heard words filled with chauvinism and words filled with support and understanding for my country. Tough year. But then it's another reminder that I love my country and will always remain the Proud Ukrainian.
So what do Ukrainians traditionally do the last days of the year? Well, big city inhabitants usually are involved in all kind of different parties that take place in their offices. The corporate party culture is pretty new to Ukraine and people really enjoy getting together with colleagues and get drunk. Sometimes they get drunk to an extent they don't remember what they did the night before. I'm not sure how it helps to work relationships but they keep doing it year after year. In smaller towns, people also get together at work and celebrate but they don't call it a "corporate party" though the results are pretty much the same. At schools, children have so-called children's matinees that have quite transformed since I was a student myself. In my childhood, we had a costume masquerade in the school sports hall that was transformed into a big celebration area with a Christmas tree in the center. One year I was dressed as a cowboy, I had a hat, my mom added fringe to my jeans side seams, and the biggest pride was my plastic gun in a holster. I still have a photo somewhere. Nowadays these school parties are more like discotheques. Good old times...
There are two other compulsory components to New Year celebration in Ukraine. Actually, you can even say three components. The first one is shopping. I don't mean the Christmas shopping thing for presents. We usually give presents on St. Nicholas day, that is the 19th of December (because we are still on that stupid old-style calendar). Of course, I mean western Ukraine. It can differ depending on the region people live in. So shopping is mostly about preparing for the big New Year dinner that takes place on the 31st of December. And by "big" I really mean BIG. Some families, unfortunately, go overboard and female part of the family cooks for at least two days. Once I decided to have a bunch of friends over for the New Year party but it ended up me cooking a ton of stuff and when it was time to celebrate I was sooooo tired that one glass of champagne almost knocked me out. Since then I decided that I'm not running this marathon again. And.... I lied to myself because a couple of years later I danced on the same rake again, though with a smaller number of guests and dishes respectively. So people shop for food, all kind of food and sometimes very expensive food like red and black caviar, for instance. As one lady said: We buy caviar once a year to celebrate like the last New Year. I don't think she really meant the "last" thing but it does look like that sometimes. Salads, fish, meats, pastries, cakes and many many other things are on the table along with a load of different alcohol.
The second big thing is CLEANING!!! Long, tedious, exhausting, thorough, detailed, focused cleaning of all the place where you live whether it's a one-bed apartment or a mansion the size of Buckingham Palace. The next time you will clean your place even more thoroughly would be before Easter and then you will go even further because on top of cleaning there would be also some minor repair works, things like painting walls or changing all curtains and sheers. So New Year cleaning is big and important and when you live in the country where it snows in winter you will get all the carpets you have and clean them in fresh snow outside. That's the part I liked the best. The smell of carpet fibres that was brought from the cold of the outside smells better than any Febrese. And the bonus for all the fuss of the day is the decoration of the Christmas tree. We usually put the Christmas tree for the New Year since our Christmas comes after New Year, so actually, it's a New Year tree ))
Some people prefer to have big parties and invite a ton of guests, others prefer to celebrate just with family. When I was little we celebrated all New Years with our neighbours that lived in the apartment next to us. We were very close and hanged out together quite a lot. When we, the kids, moved out, and then their parents moved from the apartment to a house, my parents came up with a new tradition. After they have some champagne at home and we exchange phone calls with greetings they take some treats and go to greet their friends that come to the town center to the main Christmas tree. A lot of Ukrainians like to stay home and watch TV for the rest of the night. The best thing about the 1st of January is that you don't need to cook. Actually, you don't need to cook on the 2nd of January as well. Some people manage to skip cooking on the 3rd as well, but that's already dangerous for their health in my opinion.
There is one more traditional thing about the New Year celebration and it is the fireworks of course. Personally, I have a problem with this part because there are a lot of people in Ukraine, I mean war veterans and people that had to resettle from the east of Ukraine, and the sound of fireworks is very traumatic for them. I would like to have this part eliminated until the war in Ukraine is over, but not all my fellow citizens are understanding enough.
So at this point the only thing left is to wish all of us a Happy New Year and to hope that it will be better than 2019. And of course, BEHAVE!
I don't want to write a sum-up post because I simply don't like things like that. Maybe it's not very smart but I don't have a precise plan for each year because I don't want to expose myself to unnecessary stress. So I will say this: This year was full of different events, some were very positive others not so much. There were moments when I was extremely tired and moments of utter excitement. I worried a lot because my country is in big danger nowadays and I feel very irritated that it made into the most international news due to Trump impeachment and not due to the ongoing war with russia. Yes, the war is still in the active phase and a lot of Ukrainian soldiers got killed and wounded. Unfortunately, the mass media environment runs on scandals and everyday life is not making onto news screens and pages. It makes me very very sad but that the reality we all live in. I've heard words filled with chauvinism and words filled with support and understanding for my country. Tough year. But then it's another reminder that I love my country and will always remain the Proud Ukrainian.
So what do Ukrainians traditionally do the last days of the year? Well, big city inhabitants usually are involved in all kind of different parties that take place in their offices. The corporate party culture is pretty new to Ukraine and people really enjoy getting together with colleagues and get drunk. Sometimes they get drunk to an extent they don't remember what they did the night before. I'm not sure how it helps to work relationships but they keep doing it year after year. In smaller towns, people also get together at work and celebrate but they don't call it a "corporate party" though the results are pretty much the same. At schools, children have so-called children's matinees that have quite transformed since I was a student myself. In my childhood, we had a costume masquerade in the school sports hall that was transformed into a big celebration area with a Christmas tree in the center. One year I was dressed as a cowboy, I had a hat, my mom added fringe to my jeans side seams, and the biggest pride was my plastic gun in a holster. I still have a photo somewhere. Nowadays these school parties are more like discotheques. Good old times...
There are two other compulsory components to New Year celebration in Ukraine. Actually, you can even say three components. The first one is shopping. I don't mean the Christmas shopping thing for presents. We usually give presents on St. Nicholas day, that is the 19th of December (because we are still on that stupid old-style calendar). Of course, I mean western Ukraine. It can differ depending on the region people live in. So shopping is mostly about preparing for the big New Year dinner that takes place on the 31st of December. And by "big" I really mean BIG. Some families, unfortunately, go overboard and female part of the family cooks for at least two days. Once I decided to have a bunch of friends over for the New Year party but it ended up me cooking a ton of stuff and when it was time to celebrate I was sooooo tired that one glass of champagne almost knocked me out. Since then I decided that I'm not running this marathon again. And.... I lied to myself because a couple of years later I danced on the same rake again, though with a smaller number of guests and dishes respectively. So people shop for food, all kind of food and sometimes very expensive food like red and black caviar, for instance. As one lady said: We buy caviar once a year to celebrate like the last New Year. I don't think she really meant the "last" thing but it does look like that sometimes. Salads, fish, meats, pastries, cakes and many many other things are on the table along with a load of different alcohol.
The second big thing is CLEANING!!! Long, tedious, exhausting, thorough, detailed, focused cleaning of all the place where you live whether it's a one-bed apartment or a mansion the size of Buckingham Palace. The next time you will clean your place even more thoroughly would be before Easter and then you will go even further because on top of cleaning there would be also some minor repair works, things like painting walls or changing all curtains and sheers. So New Year cleaning is big and important and when you live in the country where it snows in winter you will get all the carpets you have and clean them in fresh snow outside. That's the part I liked the best. The smell of carpet fibres that was brought from the cold of the outside smells better than any Febrese. And the bonus for all the fuss of the day is the decoration of the Christmas tree. We usually put the Christmas tree for the New Year since our Christmas comes after New Year, so actually, it's a New Year tree ))
Some people prefer to have big parties and invite a ton of guests, others prefer to celebrate just with family. When I was little we celebrated all New Years with our neighbours that lived in the apartment next to us. We were very close and hanged out together quite a lot. When we, the kids, moved out, and then their parents moved from the apartment to a house, my parents came up with a new tradition. After they have some champagne at home and we exchange phone calls with greetings they take some treats and go to greet their friends that come to the town center to the main Christmas tree. A lot of Ukrainians like to stay home and watch TV for the rest of the night. The best thing about the 1st of January is that you don't need to cook. Actually, you don't need to cook on the 2nd of January as well. Some people manage to skip cooking on the 3rd as well, but that's already dangerous for their health in my opinion.
There is one more traditional thing about the New Year celebration and it is the fireworks of course. Personally, I have a problem with this part because there are a lot of people in Ukraine, I mean war veterans and people that had to resettle from the east of Ukraine, and the sound of fireworks is very traumatic for them. I would like to have this part eliminated until the war in Ukraine is over, but not all my fellow citizens are understanding enough.
So at this point the only thing left is to wish all of us a Happy New Year and to hope that it will be better than 2019. And of course, BEHAVE!
Instead of a Christmas tree, my parents buy compositions like this. This wreath is made of spikelets that symbolize prosperity and health, and the wreath shape corresponds to the oldest and most important deity of all - the Sun called in ancient Slavic tradition Dazhboh meaning The God that gives.
