By Cheryl Jahn

Ukrainian Christmas explained

Jan 6, 2023 | 3:20 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Pluzhnikov family arrived in Prince George right around Christmas, the traditional Western Christmas. So what’s the difference between Western Christmas and Ukrainian Christmas, which is tomorrow? It depends on the calendar.

“If we look at Julian Calendar, the old Roman calendar, yeah, we will see it as that,” explains Michael Pluzhnikov. “We have our 25 December today at the seventh of January and then we’ll have the new year. We still have 2022. So the new year will come on our calendar on January 13.”

The Gregorian calendar is the more modern one, which has the birth of Christ on December 25, while the older Julian Calander, also celebrates the birth of Christ on December 25th, but that falls on January 7th in the modern calendar.

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Some Ukrainians still celebrate the old calendar for a reason. But why it was so important for Ukrainians to celebrate on the seventh or 25th, according to the old calendar, especially here in the West, like in the New World, because it held them to keep their identity, because it was all about our Ukrainian tradition.”

Pluzhnikov says about half of the Ukrainians have made the switch to celebrating Christmas on the Western December 25th. “Uh, my favourite thing about Christmas is as then you are together with your family,” explains Mikhiekina Kundenko, Pluzhnikov’s young daughter. “I was doing some games together with my brothers and sister.”

But that doesn’t mean the Pruzhnikov family isn’t going to do some celebrating tomorrow, too.

“So we will prepare our traditional dishes. Then we will sit at one table with our family. We will try to make calls to Ukraine with two parents who live there, to our cousins. So we will try to use the Internet to make a family connection together.”

Whether you celebrate on December 25th or January 7th, Merry Christmas.