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UKRAINIAN WOMAN OUR ENGLISH COLUMN They Heard the Angels Sing Around us the Christmas boom is in full swing-. The festively- lighted streets, the crowded stores and street cars, the terrific speed everywhere: we see it, and hear it coming. Do we feel it the same way? The expectance of the great event — the Birth of the Holy Child — is somehow overwhelmed 'by the noise of all these preparations.. We are thinking- more of nice Christmas gifts- for our beloved ones than of .precious old customs connected with this, the most mo mentous holiday on earth. Forever the old customs glow in our memory. They are small, sometimes almost insignificant threads, gleaming here and there in the Christmas pattern, with a special meaning, based on old tra ditions. Some object that in .modern times you cannot preserve all old customs, born in another world. You try to simplify life. Finally you rid the rich, spiritual event of all its many joyous features which united families and .peoples on this occasion. Like a multiple-colored mosaic are these lovely old customs, brought by migrating peoples from all over the world, with the dream in their eyes of a new land, where they “might have life and have it more abundantly,’ as He whose birthday we celebrate pro mised us. If that wihich they sec retly cherish is openly practiced, the whole pattern of the W estern Hemisphere will be enriched, and those who bring them, and those unfamiliar, who are privileged to share them will be happy in their hearts. Do you know the special mean ing of the Ukrainian Christmas dinner -— the “Sviat-Vechir“ ? It is the feast of the family. All the members join the table to share the traditional dishes, and to pre pare themselves for the religious service which follows. Christmas dinner is like no other festival. Throughout it is filled with tra ditions and customs. First of all they emphasize the health and reunion of the family. As head of bis family the father performs the rite. He lights the ■candles on the table, and leads his family in the Lord’s prayer. To each member, with his best wishes, lie offers a spoonful of “kutya,” — a dish made of wheat grains and pop*py seeds. The custom of putting a little hay under the cloth, in tihe middle of the festive table reminds us that the Holy Child was born in a stable. Upon this spot a long piece of bread is laid, as a symbol of the Holy Child, the Bread of our soul. On each side of the bread two candles are lit to symbolize otir joy at His coming. And the empty place at the Christmas dinner table! It is set for a member of the family who has passed on. On this evening all members reunite. It is believ ed their souls are present at this table. Sometimes, in this empty place a stranger sits. A lonely human being in your vicinity, or among your friends, whom you may in vite to that seat, because you did it as a deed of love. No one need be lonely on Christmas Eve. And, it is comforting to remember your ancestors, and loved ones. Gently, the Ukrainian mother sets a bowl of “kutya” on the window sill so that souls who visit your home on Christmas Eve may share the special Christmas dish with you. Thus the tender links that unite a family through long generations remain unbroken. Last of all the family sings a Christmas carol at the dinner ta ble that uplifts their minds, and, binds their hearts together in their joyful praise of the Holy Child, and His birth in the little town of Bethlehem, where soli tary, pure-spirited shepherds heard the angels sing. Later, when they go to church, the carol the family chorused at the dinner table takes on a deeper meaning as they sing it with the commun ity there. Finally it rings out, in the still night air, throughout the whole village or town. It is called “kolyada.” All the world has come to know and love the “kolayada” since the melody has been adapted to words in “Christmas Bell.” This carol is the only visible or audible sign of the Ukrainian Christmas which has reached the western world. And, it is the only item of a rich cultural heritage around this holi day. Knowing that Ukrainians, outside Ukraine, practice these fine customs and traditions, strengthens and cheers Ukrain ians in the homeland. Let us here sing “kolaya,” and observe our ancestral customs.
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