THE THINGS WE DO...: A Canadian Christmas - on the prairies (01/05/03)

THE THINGS WE DO...

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

A Canadian Christmas - on the prairies

"What do you mean they did that in Ukraine?! Ha, we did that in Manitoba 85 years ago!" the elegant, spry 90-something woman harrumphed as I spoke about Ukrainian Christmas traditions to the folks at the nursing home. I felt I was bringing coals to Newcastle, because these old-timers had practiced many more traditions over more years than I ever would. But this was another family fun evening at the home, this time with a Christmas theme. We spoke for a bit, and then sang.

How the faces lit up when we talked about waiting for the first star to appear before sitting down to the Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper) on Christmas Eve, about the 12 different foods, some served only on this evening, all meatless and non-dairy, about the special sheaf of wheat, about the one empty place-setting at the table, and about the caroling.

Oh, the caroling!

The folks reminisced about going house-to-house, both here in the city and on the farms. In the old North Point Douglas of the 1920-1930s, you walked door-to-door because almost everyone living there was Ukrainian. In rural Manitoba where the pioneers had settled beginning in the 1890s, the carolers traveled by horse-drawn sleigh from farm to farm. Once you got to the farmhouse, you did not stand outside singing one koliada (carol) and then leave. You were invited in, you sang, recited verses of good wishes, were seated down for a meal and drinks, sang some more, received a donation for your charity, then went on to the next house. And this would not be two-three people, but groups of five, 10 or more, with one person carrying a lit-from-inside colored-paper star on a pole.

The caroling went on until early morning. One woman remembered that when she was a teenager her father was at the reins of the horse-drawn sleigh full of carolers. As he dozed off, a result of so many greetings and libations in each home, their horse found his own way home at dawn. When she spoke about this, the others nodded in recognition. After more reminiscences, the folks and I sang a few koliady, with some of those who can no longer speak smiling and singing, even remembering most of the verses.

You would think that after 111 years in Canada, Ukrainians would have just blended into the woodwork of "Canadian" traditions. But the discussion of just what is "Canadian" continues. Here on the prairies, Ukrainian traditions are Canadian traditions, just a bit younger than Canada itself. People who are fifth- and sixth-generation Canadians have been carrying on the Christmas, Easter, wedding and other traditions of their pioneer ancestors. Over the century, people have adapted, intermarried, and some have lost the language "once baba died," as some say.

A few aspects of the traditions have been forgotten, or were not practical for urban life, and others blended with the "regular" Christmas. The caroling continues. What remains is so much a part of the Canadian prairies that city Christmas lights stay on until after January 7, Gunn's Bakery sells kolach (special braided bread), and pearl wheat and poppy seeds for kutia (the special ritual dish of this evening) are available at practically every supermarket - sometimes even as a package at the checkout.

Alycia's Restaurant holds special Christmas Eve dinners, with two or three seatings, all sold out. Marion Bodnarchuk Staff, the owner (whose father arrived in Canada as a young man in 1895, and whose mother was Canadian-born), has been doing this for 24 years, and does not even advertise. Whole extended families come, as do singles. In the store's deli, the foods for this special meal are available for take-out, but you'd better be there in the morning before they sell out. Other Ukrainian caterers in the city are just as swamped. And then there are all the women who do it all from scratch themselves.

What does all this mean? Why do people bother? Would it not be simpler to just have the turkey dinner on December 25, and maybe order take-out or a pizza on Christmas Eve? Why go through all this trouble carrying out strange rituals? Because, as Tevye sang, "Tradition!" No matter what the nationality, no matter how far removed from one's roots, people need and even create their own traditions. Where traditions have been practiced for generations, it may be that no one can explain why certain things are done, but "this has been in our family for years," or "we have always done this."

Ukrainian seasonal and family traditions go back to ancient, prehistoric times. It is impossible to physically link the mammoth hunters and the first farmers on the territory of Ukraine to the ancestors of modern Ukrainians. But in studying the oral literature, the rituals and the symbolism in folk art, ethnographers see the continuity of what was passed on through the millennia.

Ukrainian Christmas Eve marks the birth of Christ with rituals that originally celebrated the winter solstice, the celestial bodies, the lunar cycle (the 12 dishes). The family gathers to come together, and to honor the ancestors who for this night return to be with the rest of the family. From those earliest times, Ukrainians have believed that the family comprises the living, those who departed and those yet to be born. The empty place setting at the table is for the departed. The meal is meatless and non-dairy because the earliest rituals originated before agriculture, when animals were considered part of the extended family, and before the domestication of animals.

Christianity was accepted in Ukraine in 988, and took quite a few centuries before both the church authorities and the general population accepted each other. After all, the traditions had been around for so many thousands of years before this new faith. The blending, the layering of old and new, for example, can be heard in many carols, where pre-Christian verses about nature, creation, family life and medieval battles have a Christian, Christmas refrain.

The celebration of Christmas Eve is a reverent, special night for the family with no emphasis on the commercial, and does not revolve around shopping and presents under the tree. While gifts are exchanged throughout the season, traditionally St. Nicholas brings children their gifts during the night before December 19, leaving them under the pillow or near the bed.

January 7 is often called "Ukrainian" Christmas, although that is not completely accurate. This is Christmas according to the old Julian calendar, the one replaced by the Gregorian one, in which Christmas falls on December 25. Many Eastern Christian Churches celebrate according to the old calendar, although a majority of Ukrainian Catholic parishes in Manitoba voted to change to the new calendar a few decades ago. The time does not matter, because Ukrainians marking Christmas Eve on December 24 still celebrate the way they always have, with the Holy Supper.

Then, on Christmas Day, whether on December 25 or January 7, they'll have a traditional turkey dinner, with all the trimmings, including a side dish of holubtsi, of course. It is Manitoba, after all.

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