vic identity of all people living in Ukraine, and a common date that ethnic Ukrainians abroad can point to when their nation finally appeared on a map. Celebrations often include outdoor festivals and elaborate shows of contemporary Ukrainian music and dancing.
Pascha, or Easter as it’s known in the West, is the year’s defining celebration for Ukrainian Christians. Preceded by a strict 40-day period of fasting from all meat and dairy products, and several nights of reflection in church, the boisterous singing of “Christ is Risen” is when Ukrainians know it’s time to cut loose. Blessed butter, hams, sausages, cheeses, eggs, go straight from people’s Easter baskets onto their breakfast tables after coming home from an all-night vigil around sunrise.
The most recognizable element of Pascha is the pysanka, an intricately-painted egg steeped in Christian and pre-Christian symbolism. Another important element is the Paska, a cake-like sweetbread made with eggs, milk, and sometimes cheese, decorated with intricate braids and flowers made of dough or raisins.
There are also many folk songs and dances related to Pascha called Hayivky or Vesnianky (literally grove or spring songs). These are often performed by young people near churches or in cemeteries and are intended to introduce young couples to one another, in addition to expressing joy in the new life of spring and Christ’s Resurrection.
In the traditional Ukrainian observation of this Christian feast, homes, offices, churches, cars, and other spaces are adorned with greenery and aromatic herbs symbolizing the Holy Spirit. This custom is why Ukrainians refer to the feasting as Green Holidays. Fifty days after Pascha, and ten days following the conclusion of Paschal celebrations, Ukrainian Pentecost celebrates the beginning of summer. In a more Christian sense, it also celebrates unity among all languages and ethnicities as per the Biblical account in which Christ’s Apostles were told to preach the Good News to all nations.
On the days preceding Pentecost, Ukrainians visit their ancestors in the cemetery, tend to their gravestones, and often hold prayer services, offering intercession for their salvation.
5. Rosh Hashanah
Of course, Ukraine has been a center for the development of many ethnic and religious traditions, not the least of which is Judaism. One of the most visible Jewish branches is Hasidism, an ultra-Orthodox and mystical sect of Judaism known for conservative, dark dress. Hasidism, in fact, traces its origins to Ukraine.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a major holiday for all Jews; and many of the world’s Hasidic Jews are obliged to make a pilgrimage to the gravesite of one of their movement’s founders in the Ukrainian city of Uman. Every September, as many as 30,000 Jews descend on Uman to pay their respects to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. It’s not a somber celebration though — Jews spend the week dancing in the streets, feasting in tents and rejoicing. The city’s population grows by nearly 40 percent during the holiday — the effect is so extensive, that much of the signage is posted in Hebrew, and even the city’s commerce partially switches to the Israeli Shekel
6. Ukrainian Unity Day
Ukrainian Unity Day, celebrated every January 22nd, marks the historical act of unification between the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1919. The two states, which constituted Ukraine’s brief foray into independence after the collapse of the Russian Empire, did not last very long, but the effect of their unification remained for decades. The highly symbolic and administratively significant act that united Ukraine’s East and West reinforced a common identity among all Ukrainians — a sentiment which prevails to this day.
The celebration of Ukrainian Unity Day in 1990, on the 71st anniversary of the Unity Act’s signing, is credited with inspiring Ukrainian independence the following year. Three hundred thousand Ukrainians linked arms to form a human chain connecting the cities of Kyiv and Lviv, some 300 miles apart.
Today, Ukr