Forbidden Christmas

The exquisite, distinctive, and indescribably festive image of the Ukrainian Christmas was tried to be erased from memory. After 1920, when the russian Bolsheviks occupied eastern Ukraine, they banned all religious holidays.

Most Ukrainians continued to celebrate Christmas in secret. However, some brave people celebrated without hiding, although the authorities punished them. After 1935, the authorities gradually introduced into the life of citizens and peasants the cult of the artificially developed Soviet New Year holiday, with specific attributes, cuisine, rituals, and russian New Year songs. According to the plan, the Soviet New Year was supposed to replace the Christmas holidays completely.

Meanwhile, in western Ukraine, until 1939, people were free to prepare a holy dinner, sing carols, and walk with the Vertep. After World War II, in Galicia, Bukovyna, Hutsul, and Volyn regions, Moscow began to massively introduce all-Union holidays and rituals, punishing for observing Ukrainian traditions.

In the 1960s, during the "thaw," the window of opportunity expanded, and Ukrainian artists began to return the memory of native customs to people. At that time, artist and sculptor Ivan Honchar organized his home museum of folk culture. The Sixtiers gathered here - creative young people of different professions. Ivan Honchar interested them in Christmas traditions, taught them to carol, and gave them beautiful traditional clothes from his collection.

However, in January 1972, just at Christmastime, the Soviet authorities arranged a series of arrests of famous Ukrainian figures. The open celebration of Christmas in Kyiv was interrupted for many years. By the end of the 1980s, Ukrainians were already singing carols freely again in Kyiv, Lviv, and other cities. And after gaining independence in 1991, the custom quickly revived throughout Ukraine.