Christmas arrives with a warm overjacket on its shoulders. At night it brings warm light of the first evening star and in the morning it wakes you up with shine of white but warm sun. If my great-grandmonther’s grandmother had been asked about her Christmas feelings, I believe, her words would have been identical to mine. Because together with a bowl of kutia,...
... generations of Ukrainians transfer their traditions from hand to hand.
Traditional Ukrainian Christmas wiped windows of calendars with its mittens to mark all 13 days of its stay - from Christmas Eve on January 6 to Theophany of Jesus Christ on the 19th.
Back in the days they used to prepare for holidays in advance. They cleaned houses and surrounding territories, and by whitening houses they gave their dwellings new clothing to fit show-white piles and welcomed holidays wearing new looks. They never forgot outfits for the family, too, stored up fabric in advance, embroidered ornamentation with cross stitches at taught kids and youngsters various kolyadkas and shchedrivkas in the meantime.Photo vsviti.com.ua
Christmas Eve that comes right before Christmas, on January 6, is a good time to have some culinary art practice because there should be as much as 12 dishes on the table, all Lenten only. The finest bowl this night is taken by kutia – mush made of cereal grain, it is it that the treat starts with. When somebody lightens first shimmering star with a Christmas match up there in the skies, only than it is allowed to have the first spoon of food in a day.Photo lovelylife.in.ua
Together with the family that attempts to gather in full muster on this day of all others, spirit of forefathers, didukh*, joins festive dinner. It is brought into khata as the star begins to shine however it is assembled long before Christmas holidays from last harvest’s cereal ears. When adorning it for the dinner, they put bead strings made of guilder rose berries on it, tie a tie made of colorful ribbons or decorate it with dried flowers. Didukh takes the most dignified spot – by holy images. The way it looks is a statement of respect towards ancestors and representation of immortality of the family, welfare and rich harvests.Photo thetraveller.com.ua
Christmas paints bright pictures: piles of white crunching snow, footpath winding among them from house to house, carved window shutters half-covered with white blanket after a snowstorm and bright spots of girls’ holiday kerchiefs in the endless sea of white: red as heat, green as grass, blue as cornflowers in the field. Chatter and clutter of girls catches up with deep voices of young men to join in Christmas kolyadkas and greetings for hosts. “We say good night to you, the master of the house…” (“Dobryy vechir tobi, pane hospodaryu..” in Ukrainian). Different regions of Ukraine had own days for caroling. Some expected guests after Christmas Eve, others on the very Christmas day and some – even after that. And each had own timing and direction: small children more often than not only visited neighbors to get sweets, nuts and other delights from hosts after singing. Adult boys and girls tried covering larger routes; they visited almost every khata in a village.Photo zak-insider.com
Bethlehem start was a must-have attribute for all carolers; it was usually made of stuff at hand: mainly paper of yellow, orange or golden color and decorated with spangles, ribbons and lanterns. Christmas image could be placed in its centre.
And sure enough there was no way a holiday could have gone without nativity scenes! Nowadays there is hardly a toy house that surprises. However back in the days people looked into small boxes that contained miniature decorations and characters that depicted Biblical story. Frequently those weren’t mere figures but a whole puppet theatre that developed into a live story thank to voices and skillful moves of actors. With time nativity scenes escaped small boxes so more and more often it can be seen with human-size characters.Photo stsenariy.blogspot.com
Theophany of Jesus Christ doted all the i’s of Christams holidays. In its run-up Ukrainians celebrated Malanka holiday. On such days youngsters and teenagers hid behind masks to fall into personas of folk characters and animals for loud sounds of shchedrivkas to be heard in towns and villages till late at night.
In a local history museum in every country you visit, you will certainly notice similar archaeological finds - fragments of clay products. Pottery, born millennia ago, but “living” even today, can rightfully be considered one of the most tenacious one. The uniqueness of clay was noticed by our distant ancestors who lived in caves ...
How much love weights and can its volume be measued? Does it have a garvity center and how it behaves in hours of ardent heat ot snow storms? Sure enough, love is an ethereal feeling that rather resembles crazy butterflies dancing in your stomach. However people, who have deep feelings, have learned to "create love" and convey its meaning in stone, wood or metal for others.
Ice cream with a taste of horse meat, pickled insects, fish with deadly venom, etc – Japanese cuisine has things to surprise, amaze and shock you with. And truth be told, enumeration of these dishes doesn’t help my appetite at all. But we are not after exotic stuff. True culinary tourism is an attempt to comprehend mindset and feel national distinctive color through traditional cuisine – not try most exotic dishes.
Composers of antiutopias predict hundreds of sorrows to the people of the future who are from times to times forbidden to celebrate weddings, however, it seems, everything is not so terrible. In Chinese province Yun Nan near the foot of Himalayas the matriarch tribe mosuo resides that is not familiar with the concept of marriage at all.
Austrian tour operators launched an unusual touristic tourdesigned for fans of singing style called yodel. Hikers wander through the Ziller Valley, a broad trail narrows opening the way for only the most avid travellers, then track leads upwards. Tourists look into the interactive station shaped as a giantsonorous walk-in cowbell, then they go around thelargest alpine horn and head to place...
A mini toast, a slice of cheese and a sip of strong coffee. "That is not a buffet!" a waiter will pronounce indignantly, looking at the disgruntled tourist’s face. The generous Ukrainian soul cannot understand how locals manage to eat their full with that. Therefore, before going to a new country, you need to know exactly whether in the evening you should prepare a couple of sandwiches to indulge them in the morning,...
The New Year in Ukraine did not always start with a Christmas tree, and instead of Santa Claus and Snow Maiden, guests were waiting fora minx girl - Malanka and motor-boy Vasyl accompanied by the retinue. All the follies were out of hand: the ridiculed riddles carried a sacred content, dictated by the logic of the myth of the duel of spring and winter.
According to stereotypes, New Year’s Eve in Istanbul is pure boredom since it is marked with greyness and absence of snow. OUTLOOK by experience checked whether it is true, and now we are sharing our impressions. If we say that this holiday is celebrated in Turkey the same as in Europe or North America, it would be not quite fair.
Till the beginning of 2022 there is little time that’s why in case one hasn’t decided yet where and how to celebrate the most popular holiday on our planet, OUTLOOK offers the list of the brightest cities for the celebration. There all the wishes and dreams will, definitely, come true!
Vitamins, development of resistance to cold, correct day regimen... That's all good and useful, especially when the winter weather swirls in, but sometimes we all have to pamper ourselves and at the same time to be protected against germs and colds. And the best way to do it is to sip some mulled wine.
A little son came to his father and suggested to run away from mom and granny to the North Pole? Now, do not indulge into tragic speeches of severe frosts, pitch darkness of the polar night and hungry polar bears! Give a conspiracy wink to a little brave one, and give him a real man's job for his school winter holidays that is to learn how to build an igloo, night shelter in ever-frost lands.
In those days when the Persian soldiers were second to none, and both the Roman Empire and the Arabian Peninsula were conquered by their power, skilful fingers of winner nation craftswomen created their first masterpiece. The carpet called The Springtime passed into history as the most precious of all time. It symbolized powerful rule of the Persians, and its beauty told about the divine origin of the king Khosrow I.
It is said, the easier it is, the better we feel, however, is it always like that? We know that not all the nations follow this principle. OUTLOOK has found out the strangest, toughest and hard in articulation international languages and would like to share it with the readers.
OUTLOOK often tells about the kitchens of the peoples around the world, but when it comes to Italy, writing about the country should be a crime. Each of its twenty regions has its own culinary world with the subtleties and specialties. Let the title of gastronomic capital of Italy be Bologna, its official capital - Rome, too, has something to boast about. We are telling you what is remarkable about Roman cuisine...
Traditional Japanese kabuki theatre has always been a mystery to the European mentality: only an expert on the culture of the Land of the Rising Sun can understand a play without guide’s tips. The word kabuki is sometimes translated as "the art of singing and dancing". Why not an operetta? The essence of performance is not confined to musical presentation only...
Our "Peruvian cycle" is replenished with the story of the most revered animals in Peru. Being the link between the present and the past, they play an important role in the life of this nation. Wise ancestors of the modern Peruvians, the ancient Incas, were living in harmony with all life that surrounded them.
“I’d like some headache elixir, mandrake root extract, heart pills and a bit of morphine, please…” – this is about how patients addressed pharmacists a couple hundred years ago. They, in turn, were preparing various magmas and mixtures in pharmacological laboratories situated as near as in the next room. Sure, nowadays technologies have significantly advanced, “remedy stores” fit in kiosks while drug-containing medicines cannot be bought without prescription…
Do you happen to get hungry? That is great as we go on with our story about the most popular street food from around the world. It’s freshly cooked - fall to, you guys! Let's start with the South Asian countries, namely Singapore - seafood-rich in vitamins and minerals occupy a key place in the diet of residents ...
Experienced tourists believe that one of the best sure-fire ways to quickly tune into the beat of another culture is to try local food. In order not to be at a loss when choosing dishes and save precious time for spiritual food, OUTLOOK gives you selective advice on street gastronomy from seven spots of the globe.
Trip to Latvia breaks the chain of mundanity, awakes secret fantasies which usually remain dormant in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Wandering between the centuries-old pine trees, fresh Baltic breeze languidly runs over strings in wait for off-beat adventure. Dreams do come true – you just need to know a right place to make a wish.
Photo vsviti.com.ua
Photo lovelylife.in.ua
Photo thetraveller.com.ua
Photo zak-insider.com
Photo stsenariy.blogspot.com
