Zenon Markevych would love to renew the Ukrainian Christmas Eve tradition of throwing a spoonful of sweet katia up toward the ceiling with a satisfying splat.
If the honeyed wheat and poppyseed dish sticks, the saying goes, it’s going to be a bountiful year for the family. Markevych, 25, knows another Ukrainian family who track their Christmas Eve tradition by the subsequent stains on the dining room ceiling.
But Daria Luciw, the household matriarch, is keeping that tradition at bay in her Strathearn home. Nor does she keep hay under the table as a reminder of the Bethlehem manger in which Jesus was born, according to Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox Christians, many who follow the Julian calendar and celebrate Christmas Jan. 7.
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