Ukrainians generally celebrate Christmas on January 7, like Russians, but the country’s Orthodox Church has been gradually moving away from Moscow’s orbit in recent years.
Many of the millions of Ukrainian refugees in central and eastern Ukraine plan to celebrate Christmas earlier this year, following the customs of their hosts and singing carols in the language of the country where they now live, in order to feel the joy of the holidays despite their fear of relatives left behind.
Ukrainians generally celebrate Christmas on January 7, like Russians, but the country’s Orthodox Church has been gradually moving away from Moscow’s orbit in recent years.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine this February, the church said worshipers could also celebrate on December 25 – which many refugees say they will follow.
Indeed, a Christmas tree was installed in central Kiev on Saturday, December 17, following the latest wave of Russian airstrikes on critical infrastructure, as residents navigate a cityscape of fog as the festive season is marked by nothing but uncertainty.
The “Christmas tree of invincibility”, as Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko called it, was placed in a dark square called Sofiyska.
The vast space in front of the century-old Hagia Sophia cathedral is traditionally decorated, with lights on the huge evergreen at Christmas.
However, officials opted this year for a 12-meter-tall artificial tree with energy-saving lights powered by a generator.
Svetlana Safonova, 48, said when she left Lviv in March, she never imagined she would have to spend Christmas away from her husband and adult daughter, who serves in the Ukrainian army. “We would like to celebrate on December 25 as a sign of respect for Bulgaria and show once again that we are cutting ties with Russia,” Safonova said. “We will go to an Orthodox church and pray for peace in Ukraine and for the health of our soldiers and children.”.
Vasyl Kimishinets, 45, and his wife Marina, 36, who fled their village near Kyiv in March with their two children after a rocket or artillery fire near their home, now live in a two-bedroom apartment in Prague. The family — which can’t afford a tree as it tries to save money to send gifts to relatives in Ukraine — baked Christmas cookies and taped pine boughs to the wall, festooned with lights, while the children try to learn Christmas carols Czech. “We decided to just use some branches for decoration so it would look pretty and make the kids happy,” said Kimysinets, who was allowed to leave Ukraine after the army rejected him because of his poor eyesight.
The Russian offensive in Ukraine, now in its 10th month, has killed tens of thousands of people, flattened entire towns and villages and forced millions of residents from their homes, with 4.5 million people listed in across Europe, according to data from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Many are hosted by countries bordering Ukraine such as Romania, Slovakia and Poland as well as neighboring countries such as Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
Poland has recorded more than 1.5 million refugees, the most of any country in the European Union, with millions more crossing its borders.
Serhii Berezko, a 64-year-old actor from Kyiv’s Lesya Ukrainka National Theater, arrived in Poland in March with his mother, wife and two children, and said he would use Christmas to thank his Polish hosts. “These holidays are a time when people look into each other’s eyes and thank each other, with the hope that things will get better in the future,” Berezko said. “Everything we have now we owe to the Poles.”
In Bulgaria, UNICEF-supported refugees offer Ukrainian food and cookies and sell handmade bags, decorations and toys at a Christmas market in Sofia.
In Romania, refugees queue to receive packages at their hosting center in Bucharest where children decorated a Christmas tree.
Czechs living near a dormitory in Prague, which hosts 130 refugees, organized a celebration and gave gifts that they had placed under a Christmas tree. “We’re just trying to make things a little better for them,” said Hannah Hillerova-Harper, one of the organizers of the celebration. Most children at the holiday ask Santa for only two things: for the war to end and for their fathers to be safe. “My biggest wish is for Ukraine to win,” said 8-year-old Kira Bezrebra.
File images retrieved from AP
SOURCE: APE-SUN
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