Open air museum adds touch of tradition to Orthodox Christmas celebrations
Nearly 1,000 people celebrated Orthodox Christmas at Pyrohiv Open AirMuseum of Folk Architecture on Jan. 7.
Since 1978, Pyrohiv has added a touch of tradition to holiday celebrations in Kyiv. And Orthodox Christmas this year was no exception.
The expansive outdoor museum, located just south of Kyiv, offered caroling, folk dancing and singing, and, of course, good food.
“Traditions and holidays live in our museum,” said Tamara Vasylenko, one of the primary organizers of the event.
The museum covers 150 hectares and includes mock villages from six regions of Ukraine. This year Christmas was celebrated in the Serednyo-Naddnipryansk and Poltava regions of Pyrohiv Museum.
For the Christmas performance, organizers invited a couple of musical folk groups, including Ridna Pisnya (Native Song) from Kyiv and a folk group from Hrebinka in Kyiv region.
From 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Jan. 7 there was a special holiday service at the 17th-century St. Arhistratih Mykhaylo, the oldest of five churches on the grounds of the Pyrohiv museum.
After the church service, participants ringing bells and carrying eight-point stars went to the homes of residents to sing kolyadka (carols). Kolyadka are traditional Christmas songs that tell the news of the birth of Christ. The carols offer wishes of good luck and a successful harvest to the hosts. In thanks, the hosts treated the carolers with small presents, candies, fruit or money.
After the performance, visitors meandered around the grounds of Pyrohiv museum and rode horses or enjoyed food and drinks in the museum’s restaurant Yarivtzi.
Some came to Shynok, a cottage where people go after traditional holiday celebrations to have a snack or a drink.
“Our goal is a revival of Ukrainian Orthodox traditions and culture wealth,” Vasylenko said. “We would like to revive a spiritual wealth of such holidays because for most people, these holidays are still associated only with a lot of drinks and food.”
