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Many old Ukrainian customs, such as fortune telling, singing Christmas carols, cooking traditional dishes and going to church, are connected with the holiday of Christmas. Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, adopted in Europe and North America. That’s why Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January 7. For the long Soviet period this important religious holiday was ignored by the official calendar, but in 1990s it was resurrected.

On Christmas Eve (January 6th) members of families meet for Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper), the traditional twelve dishes of which are dedicated to Christ's twelve apostles. The traditional meals are borsch, vushka, a variety of fish dishes, varenyky, holubtsi and many others. In the last few years a lot of lost traditions like Kolyadki have being revived.