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For centuries the Christmas celebration in Ukraine begins on the evening of January 6th. The evening before Christmas is called the Holy Supper. All members of the family come together to parents house, they help each other preparing for the celebration: cooking 12 dishes, serving the table, cleaning the house.
12 dishes symbolise the apostles. Since Christmas is preceded by a long forty-day fast, all the dishes of the Holy Supper must be fasting. The main Christmas dish is kutia - wheat or barley porridge mixed with raisins, poppy seeds, honey, and nuts. Other dishes include varenyky with potato or cabbage, vushka with mushrooms, cabbage rolls with buckwheat, mushroom soup, pampushky...
Bogdana's husband, Orest, prepares kytia in traditional way.
The decoration of the table is very important. Traditionally, the table is covered with fresh hay and covered with a white tablecloth. At the corners of the table under the tablecloth, people put a clove of garlic (to protect the family from disease and evil forces); poppy seeds (for procreation); and sugar (for happiness). There must be a candle on the table, which must be lit by the oldest male in the house. It is believed that the fire cleanses the house from evil.
Near the entrance, people place Didukh - rye, wheat, or oat sheaf, which symbolizes the harvest and prosperity, and is a talisman of the family.
The dinner starts with the appearance of the first star, which symbolizes the birth of Jesus. The Holy Supper traditionally begins with a prayer for the health of the living and the repose of the dead. The owner of the house is the first to sit down at the table and bless the dinner (distributes kutia to the family).
Christmas holidays in Ukraine, according to pagan tradition, are associated with the worship of ancestors and honoring the souls of the dead. So after the Holy Supper, Ukrainians leave a spoonful of each dish for the spirits of dead relatives (in some regions it is not removed from the table in others it is put on the windowsill).
