“But you’ll be home for Christmas, right?”
No, I will not be home for Christmas this year (and possibly not next year, but that remains to be seen.)
“I mean they aren’t going to make you stay there for Christmas…”
They are, indeed, going to make me stay there for Christmas (In this instance, ‘they’ is the Peace Corps.) It’s my understanding that we are required to remain on-site for the first three months following arrival (travel in-country excepted) – since I will be arriving at my permanent service site on or around December 18th, 2010, that means that I will be obligated to remain in Ukraine until March 18th, 2010 at the bare minimum. Since I will be teaching until the end of May,it’s unlikely I’ll be doing any traveling outside of Ukraine until the summer of 2011.
“Do Ukrainians even celebrate Christmas?”
In Ukraine, Christmas is celebrated according to the Julian calendar, with celebrations starting on January 6 (Christmas Eve) and extending through January 19 (Epiphany.) The central tradition of Christmas Eve is Sviata Vecherya, or Holy Supper. Sviata Vecherya begins when children see the first star in the eastern evening sky (symbolizing the trek of the Three Wise Men.)
Part of the tradition of Sviata Vechera is singing Ukrainian Christmas carols. (Obscure fact alert!) The Ukrainian song “Shchedryk” became a base for the world-famous Christmas carol, “Carol of the Bells”.
(Note: The two most widely practiced religions in Ukraine are Orthodox Christianity and Eastern Catholicism. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the largest in the country.)
So, although it is true I will not be home for Christmas celebrations this year, have no fear beloved friends and family, I am sure I will enjoy experiencing a Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas.
Now, on to other topics: namely, language and a brief overview of Ukrainian food. (I promise to go into more depth as I get to encounter Ukrainian culture first-hand.)
“What language do they speak in Ukraine? Russian or something?”
The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian. Ukrainian is a Balto-Slavic Indo-European language, belonging to the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet.
Here’s the breakdown with links for the linguist-geeks out there.
Indo-European
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Image via Wikipedia
From the Encyclopædia Britannica:
Ukrainian: formerly called Ruthenian, or Little Russian, Ukraïns’ka Mova.
East Slavic language spoken in Ukraine and in Ukrainian communities in neighbouring Belarus, Russia, Poland, and Slovakia. Ukrainian is a lineal descendant of the colloquial language used in Kievan Rus (10th–13th century). It is written in a form of the Cyrillic alphabet and is closely related to Russian and Belarusian, from which it was indistinguishable until the 12th or 13th century. Ukrainian resembles Russian less closely than does Belarusian, though all three languages are in part mutually intelligible.
After the fall of Kievan Rus in the 13th century, the dialectal characteristics that distinguish Ukrainian from its sister languages emerged, but for many centuries thereafter the language had almost no literary expression owing to Ukraine’s long political subordination. It was not until the end of the 18th century that modern literary Ukrainian emerged out of the colloquial Ukrainian tongue. Like Belarusian, the Ukrainian language contains a large number of words borrowed from Polish, but it has fewer borrowings from Church Slavonic than does Russian.
Now, that said, due to my previous background in Russian language, I will continue to study Russian during training. Once I arrive at my permanent site, I will return to my study of Ukrainian language. With a spot of luck and what will probably be a lot of hard work, I should come back proficient in both!
“What are you going to eat over there? Are you going to miss American food?”
Food is important, we can all agree on that point. So let me put some fears to rest: I will have food, probably copious amounts of it, and it will most likely take some getting used to, but is probably delicious (if you overlook the preponderance of dill and fat.)
The average diet in Ukraine relies quite heavily on fish, cheese and a wide variety of sausage. Bread is a core staple, and is often included with every meal. Popular national dishes include salo (salted unrendered pork fat – oh I am so not kidding about that), borshch (beet soup, served both hot and cold), cabbage rolls (surprisingly delicious), Chicken Kiev, varenikiy (tasty stuffed dumplings! can be filled with sauerkraut, cheese, mashed potatoes, cabbage, meat or a combination of these, or with a fruit filling), pączki (Polish doughnuts) and nalisniki’ (basically Ukrainian crêpes, served with a variety of savory and sweet fillings.)
Check out the Wikipedia Ukrainian cuisine page for even more delectable alimentary options.
Gifts of joy will be shared no matter where you are.