On the nights of the festive days, they will again need to scan the darkness with their eyes, expecting the flashes of evil that come suddenly and unannounced in the form of missiles and rockets.
The residents of most of the war-torn cities of Ukraine will spend this year’s Christmas with the hope for peace … with their feet on their feet but their eyes fixed on the sky.
On the nights of the festive days, they will again need to scan the darkness with their eyes, expecting the flashes of evil that come suddenly and unannounced in the form of missiles and rockets.
Courageously and optimistically, without electricity in Kyiv, Odessa and other cities of the suffering Ukraine, a well-known writer keeps “the notes of the war”.
A woman, of Greek origin from occupied Mariupoli remembers that last year’s Christmas tree in the square was the most beautiful of all… An architect from Kharkiv he says that “the best Christmas present is not to be afraid of Russian raids, to have water and heating”.
At martyred Zaporizhia, residents of Greek and Armenian origin decorated the Christmas tree together and in Lviv, the city where the elderly do not leave their homes without light, the Greeks dream of baking traditional Christmas food and king pies with firewood. “The best wish for us is that the spirit of Christmas brings the light of peace” says a teacher of the Greek community from Odessa and everyone prays and wishes (somehow, magically) for this war to end…
In the darkness of Kiev
Ivan Abramov, a Ukrainian writer of Greek origin who writes his works in Russian, while speaking Ukrainian and Romani, since the beginning of the war, has been keeping Christmas notes for “a writer’s notebook” and this only in the few moments of the twenty-four hours when the electricity is reconnected .
“Yesterday, however, after a massive rocket attack on Kyiv by the enemy, there was no power until late at night. But even yesterday we sat without light” he says to APE – MEB and continues:
“The enemy is trying to keep us in the dark” and he continues: “Yesterday I spoke via video call with a good friend of mine from Cyprus – it was just getting dark on the island of Aphrodite and when Pavlos turned the switch, it turned on for me too.. .the light in the room to keep some of what was coming to me from the island.
When asked if he is writing new literary works, the much-loved Ukrainian writer says, “He is creatively engaged in documenting the actuality of the war.
“The war does not seem to end. War allows no respite. Even if I would like to write about something else, my thoughts still revolve around him, guiding my thoughts on the paper. As yesterday, yesterday, today new stories are born every day, because our life surpasses even this imagination, he said, sending, from the darkness of Kiev, wishes to stop this unjust war for all Ukrainians and the whole world!
With the old calendar, Christmas in occupied Mariupoli
46-year-old Natalia of Greek origin was forced to stay in the occupied Mariupol. During these days, he received nice photos from Athens and Thessaloniki, from friends and girlfriends, who left as refugees and are in the arms of Greece.
“I stayed because I couldn’t leave my sick and elderly mother,” she tells APE-MPE and asks not to mention her name or profession.
“I do not agree with the Russian occupation and it is dangerous that I am talking to you, if I get hurt and I am imprisoned for even ten days for a reprisal act, my mother will be left helpless” he says and continues:
“Until last year, imagine we celebrated Christmas twice: December 25 and January 7, with the old one. This year there is no mood for celebration. Christoulis forgive me! Here in Mariupol the church celebrates Christmas this year, as in Russia, with the old calendar. Friends send me videos and photos of the fir trees in Syntagma and Aristotelous squares, but don’t get me wrong: Our own fir tree last year, before the war, in the “Greek Square” of Mariupol was much more beautiful! And you understand why…”
Twice Christmas
“In the days of war we live in, it will be the best gift for us if we can turn on a light at home and let’s not have a decorated fir tree!” says architect Maximos Pomazan, speaking to APE-MPE from the liberated city of Kharkiv.
“The Christmas present for us is not to be afraid for the umpteenth time of Russian airstrikes! Let the winter not continue for us without water and heating. I wish that Christmas light and warmth will come to our homes and hearts. Let us not despair. Despair is a deadly sin for us Christians! Therefore, I will try to celebrate Christmas with some friends on December 25th and with others on January 7th, although, of course, the right thing is to celebrate Christmas on December 25th, when the day begins to grow longer. That’s a matter for different calendars. But what can I say? In our bombed-out city, what should we celebrate this year? This year we will celebrate in silence, everyone at home, with prayers for the victory of Ukraine!
Christmas event at Zaporizhia military hospital
“We organized a festive concert to cheer up the war wounded the day before yesterday at the military hospital of Zaporizhia,” Natalia Zournatsidis, President of the Greek community of the city of Zaporizhia, told APE – BEE. “We brought our convalescent soldiers warm knitted socks and sweets. Earlier we had a joint Christmas event with the Armenian community of the city. In the courtyard of the Armenian Church we decorated the Christmas tree,” he says. “In this way we added festive spirit to all of us. We wish only peace and victory. May all defenders return safe and sound from the war fronts. May every Ukrainian refugee return home.”
In Odessa with Christmas events
Christmas celebrations were prepared by the students of the 118th school of Odessa where Greek is taught as a second foreign language from the fifth grade to the ninth grade. “We will do festive performances that highlight the tradition but also the modern elements of our two peoples, the Greek and the Ukrainian, so that everyone will understand that we are also Europeans, with common roots and values,” says Marina Stratychuk, who teaches the Greek language in this school. “A total of 430 students of all ethnicities are taught Greek in 15 classes,” he says.
“With the start of the war teaching is much more difficult for all teachers. Because we bear a huge responsibility to maintain hope in these children and to continue the operation of the school. To continue to teach and give, the conviction to our students not to give up and to continue their life as much as it becomes more normal despite the events that scare and stress them every day. The best wish for everyone is for Christmas to see ceasefires and the light of peace,” says Marina.
In Lviv, the elderly do not leave their homes on holidays…
“In our Greek community, and in the Greek Cultural Association of Western Ukraine, young people are missing. Because most of them have left, refugees in EU countries and in Greece. Only the elderly are left who do not leave their homes without light,” says Irini Efkarpidou, president of the Greek community of Western Ukraine based in the city of Lviv, to APE-MPE.
In the dark city, without heating, it is difficult to celebrate, but I am sure, that the Greeks of Lviv will try at all costs to bake in wood-burning ovens king pies and other festive Christmas traditional dishes, and let us all celebrate Christmas on December 25, like in Greece “.
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
