Friday, January 07, 2011

Happy Ukrainian Christmas!

Happy Ukrainian Christmas!


Enjoy the last days of celebratory holiday spirit with Ukrainian Christmas, which falls on January 7 via the Julian calendar. On Christmas Eve, the big celebratory event, Ukrainians share a traditional meal of 12-meatless dishes, representing the 12 apostles. The meal includes: Kutia, which is cooked whole wheat with honey and poppy seeds; Kolach, braided bread surrounding a candle; meatless Borscht; fish; pickled herring; meatless cabbage rolls; perogies; sauerkraut and peas; mashed beans with garlic; Pidpenky, which are mushrooms with gravy. And for dessert there is Uzvar, dried fruit Compote; and Pampushky or Makiwnyk, which is a sweet raised dough with poppy seed, honey and cinnamon filling.

Here is one great meatless Borscht recipe -- if you cook it up and add some mushroom-filled dumplings (frozen/prepared mushroom tortellini work great) you can share in a Ukrainian tradition this week.

8 comments:

  1. C Razhdyestvom! :) (I'm guessing Merry Christmas in Ukrainian is the same as Russian.)

    I love that the dishes are traditionally vegetarian; such a nice change from most traditional European cooking.

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  2. Such an interesting post; I didn't know any of these things! Thanks for sharing your celebration with us.

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  3. Eva - not the same, but similar. And yes, the fact that all the traditional meals are meatless (excepting fish, but I just leave those out) is one more reason I love "sviata vecherya" (holy supper)

    Bellezza - I am glad you enjoyed!

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  4. Happy Ukrainian Christmas! It's great to learn a little about it, as I knew nothing!

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  5. Aww: well, I'm glad I was close at least. lol

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  6. Dorothy - glad to be informative :)

    Eva - lol, thanks for your good wishes!

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  7. Khrystos Razhdajetsia! thank you for posting the card! Please advise what are the terms and conditions to use this card from your blog in our not-for profit Winter newsletter? Thank you, Serge

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  8. Serge - if you read this, feel free to use this for your nonprofit newsletter, Khrystos Razhdajetsia!

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Thanks for stopping by ~ I always enjoy hearing your comments so please feel free to leave some!