Ukrainian Rizdvo - a lunar Christmas (12/28/03)

Ukrainian Rizdvo - a lunar Christmas

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

Forget Santa Claus, the fir tree and wreaths, the elves, the Yule log and the reindeer. We've got wheat, hay, garlic, poppy seeds, honey, farm animals, and the sun, moon, and stars - now that's Christmas! If not Christmas, then Ukrainian Rizdvo, the birth of Christ as Ukrainians have celebrated it from even before the times of Christ.

There she goes again, confusing us with some pretty strange stuff, you groan. Not really, dear reader, not if you've been following some of my musings on the origins of Ukrainian traditions over the years. Tradition is strange because, while we practice our heritage as passed on by our relatives and ancestors, we rarely fully understand why. And, over the centuries, some of the various explanations and presumptions have been clouded with what people of the time thought or wished them to be. I have become immune to comments about my "pagan" leanings because of my pre-Christian explanations to many of our traditions. These are neither my thoughts, nor my wishful thinking. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

In December/January the Christian world celebrates the birth of the Christ Child, which occurred over 2,000 years ago. Religious celebrations take place in churches, homes and communities. Combined with this Christian feast are celebrations that go back much further, into pre-history, when human beings celebrated the winter solstice - the shortest day and the longest night. The family celebration hinged on the fact that from that day on, the nights would become less and less long, meaning the days would increase in light - spring was on its way. Throughout the world, this feast - along with those celebrating other solar events, marked the annual, seasonal changes so important to nature and life.

With the coming of Christianity, new traditions were begun, while the old ones continued, sometimes in adapted form. In various parts of the world, Church authorities attempted to eradicate "heathen" practices, meeting with varied success and failure. The traditions we still practice in 2003, after over a millennium of Christianity, indicate that our Ukrainian ancestors were more stubborn than most, and devoted to their way of life and belief, and no "newcomers" (of the Christian variety) would take away what had been believed and practiced since human memory began.

Ukrainian Christmas is steeped in symbolism, extremely archaic symbolism. Each thing, each ritual, each phrase and melody mean something. And that something harkens back to those earliest human times. You couldn't explain the unusual, even strange rituals without it.

From the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age, approximately 22,000 B.C. and forward), we have elements of lunar themes and ancestor worship. The latter is represented in such traditions as the empty place setting at the table, kutia and uzvar, and the non-meat, non-dairy character of the meal, the reverence for animals, certain koliadky (carols) about family, the brushing of the seat before sitting down to supper so as not to sit upon one of the many souls in the house at the time and many other rituals.

From the Neolithic/Mezolithic (New Stone Age, approximately 7,000 to 3,000 B.C.), we get the agricultural themes of Ukrainian Christmas, such as the kolach (the round bread in the center of the table), the numerous references to the sun, as well as the focus on grain and farming. The didukh, the special sheaf of wheat and other grains, is a combination of the two themes, because the souls of the ancestors enter the home for the holidays in the stalks of the best grains from the previous harvest.

The specific lunar themes of Sviat Vechir, or Ukrainian Christmas Eve, are many. The basic one is the 12 dishes served that evening. While nine or 17 are served in some areas, 12 is the most common. Nine was also a lunar symbol in the East. And no, the number 12 does not represent the 12 Apostles - who really have nothing at all to do with Christmas. The number represents the 12 cycles of the moon, the 12 months.

To the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic, the moon and stars were the navigating tools for travel and migration. Only in agricultural times did the sun become more important.

Some of the foods served also have lunar symbolism. Garlic cloves, placed in the corners of the table under the table cloth, are crescent-shaped. Seeds of flax and hemp were scattered alonside the garlic. Varenyky/pyrohy (or "perogies"as they are known in Canady) are also somewhat crescent-shaped, even though they are made of flour, a product of the later, agricultural era. Fish, served in so many variations at Sviat Vechir, is also a lunar symbol, not only for Ukrainians, but among other nations (Armenians, for example).

Ksenofont Sosenko, a priest and ethnographer, in the 1920s wrote extensively about the underlying meanings of Sviat Vechir, and emphasized the lunar aspects of these rituals. Sosenko mentions that the Jewish hamantaschen, the triangular filled cookies, are also horned and have a lunar symbolism.

In many koliadky, the father of the family is compared to the moon, his wife to the sun, and the children to the stars. In some koliadky, the moon has the more prominent place in the lyrics. The moon was believed to be a source of power and energy for the earth, and the hemp and flax seeds near the garlic cloves under the tablecloth were a double symbol, reinforcing the fertility and power of natural growth.

As we sit down to the very special and reverent sviata vecheria, or holy supper of Christmas Eve, we are surrounded not only by beloved family and friends. For that evening, our ancestors and the wealth of our ancient heritage surround us also.

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