“For me, it’s more comfortable to celebrate it on Dec. 25, because the whole world celebrates it that day, why shouldn’t we?”
Yuliya Shabanova has been busy this week making all kinds of dishes as the manager of Edmonton’s Ukraine’s Kitchen but she is not celebrating Orthodox Christmas this Sunday, Jan. 7.
Like many within her Ukrainian community, including those who now call Edmonton home having fled Russia’s war on Ukraine, she prefers Christmas in December.
Those who follow the Julian, or “old,” calendar celebrate Christmas this weekend, combining religious and cultural celebrations. Eastern Orthodox Christians, as well as some Ukrainian Catholics, celebrate Christmas Eve on Jan. 6 and Christmas on Jan. 7.
Back in July, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law moving the official Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25 from Jan. 7, the day the Russian Orthodox Church observes it.
“For me, it’s more comfortable to celebrate it on Dec. 25, because the whole world celebrates it that day, why shouldn’t we?” said Shabanova, who moved from Ukraine to Edmonton in March 2022.
“I’m glad that many of us from our home country are now celebrating it on the day everyone else does,” she said.
“It’s a way for our country to divide and move forward mentally from all the aggression.”
Shabanova grew up in a part of Ukraine where Russian was predominantly the first language. She even spent nine years of her young life living in Russia.
When she moved back to Ukraine at the age of 14, she could understand Ukrainian when spoken to her, but she had a hard time speaking it.
Not only is it important for Shabanova to have celebrated Christmas on Dec. 25, she wants to immerse herself more fully in her Ukrainian heritage.
“It’s very important for me personally. I want to speak my Ukrainian language, and because my first language is Russian, I sometimes feel pain because I can’t speak Ukrainian fluently.”