Orthodox Christmas: 12 dishes, caroling, superstitions and more
Some Saskatchewanians have begun their annual celebration of Orthodox Christmas.
Christmas Eve, according to the Julian calendar, is Jan. 6. Christmas Day is Jan. 7. Christmas Eve dinner involves 12 meatless dishes, including borscht, perogies and fish.
"The food is one of the most important elements," Bard Dedi said. Dedi has been hosting Orthodox Christmas dinner at her home for years. Every year, she tries to get a diverse group of people together so new people can experience it.
This year, her celebration is pretty small because of COVID-19, but she and her family are still hand-making everything.
Kutya is a dish made of wheat and one really important dish, Dedi said. It's said to be bad luck if you don't eat any at dinner.
"At one time, wheat used to be thrown to the ceiling and if it stuck on the ceiling, then it meant you'd have good luck," she said. "We still ask that everyone eats wheat if they want to have good luck."
You should only begin your meal when you can see the first star in the night sky, according to Dedi.
"We do place a table setting at the door and it is decorated beautifully with Ukranian decor and it's got a plate there for anybody that has passed during the year and we actually put food on that plate," Dedi said.
Dorothy Korol lives in Canora, Sask. and she shopped around at some markets this year to get everything she needed for Orthodox Christmas dinner, but she's still making some things by hand. This year, it's just her and her husband.
"My favourite Ukrainian food whenever it is, is pedaheh, perogies. I don't know why, it's just something I could do with all by itself," Korol said.
She says one tradition she really misses is caroling.
"We haven't been able to do that for the last several years from our groups just because of numbers and because a lot of us are getting up there [in age] where it's quite a chore to be going from house to house and of course this year, that wouldn't happen at all," Korol said.
