This article appeared in the Interlake Spectator in Dec. 2006. I interviewed my good neighbor, Pete, a natural story-teller. Pete passed away Nov. 14, 2009, but I will never forget the useful things he taught me, and will never forget his laugh. Pete was always there when I needed a hand…
There were no Christmas lights shining on these prairies until 1953 when the people here finally got hydro, so nothing could obscure the light of the first star in the night sky on Christmas Eve.
The tradition was to drop all the work at the sighting of this star, go inside, and begin four days of Ukrainian Christmas celebrations. Four days of wood had to be cut and carried, and four days of work had to be done beforehand. Rituals and customs took the place of labour on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Carolling Day, and St. Stephen’s Day. On each of these days, everyone followed a script that had been dictated by centuries of tradition.
Peter Leochko, born in Poplarfield in 1935, recalls the hay that was placed under the dinner table on the first night, and the nuts that were strewn in the bed of grass, which would later be collected by the children.
Many Ukrainian families still act out part of the traditional celebrations, although, now, most celebrate what the old-timers call “English Christmas”, and a handful might celebrate both. The reason for this, Leochko explained, is that Ukrainian Christmas did not always fall on the weekend, when families could be together. Often, part of the family was away during the week, working at a job. Most people didn’t have to work on “English Christmas”, and many Ukrainians began to celebrate Christmas with the prevailing culture—sometimes at the expense of their own customs.
Traditionally, 12 meatless dishes were served on Ukrainian Christmas Eve, typically consisting of fish, perogies, mushrooms (usually wild), cabbage rolls, borscht, cabbage soup, corn, beans, peas, broad beans, dried fruit, and Kutia (made with wheat, poppy seeds, and honey).
“First,” Leochko remembered, “Dad would take a spoonful of Kutia and toss it to the ceiling. If it stuck to the ceiling, it would be a good crop,” he said. “ But, how well it stuck also depended on how much honey was used,” he laughed.
“Then, after the meal,” he continued, “all the dishes were left on the table, in case Saint Nicholas came for a snack.” The next day the table would be cleaned, and any leftovers accompanied the Christmas meal of “goose, duck, or chicken—or all three, and roast pork.”
These rituals, Leochko believes, “dated back, through word of mouth, from the time Jesus was born.”
Seventy-six-year-old Kay Nazimek, who has lived her whole life in Komarno, remembers the traditional Christmas Eve dinner very well. “It’s been about 30 years since we’ve celebrated it,” she said.
She also recalls the straw under the table when she was ten years old, and the symbolic sheaf of wheat kept on the corner table, and the Christmas tree that “was decorated (with popcorn and a few ornaments) on Christmas Eve.” She paused and took a deep breath, obviously remembering the smell vividly. The tree was the main decoration, and she always looked forward to it.
“Nobody felt left out in those days,” she said. “Everybody visited more. We used to go from house to house [at Christmas], and reminisce, have coffee, tea, dainties, and maybe a drink.”
During the Christmas season in the 1940s, many people “would go to Christmas concerts and to listen to carols at Zburch School,” a small one-room school north of Komarno, or to the hall by the church, she remembered.
Both, Leochko and Nazimek, recall how poor everyone was in those days. The Christmas gifts, opened on Christmas day, were inexpensive, and typically home-made items, like hand-knitted socks and mittens, or other practical things such as pencils and crayons.
“We had soft drinks, oranges, and apples only on the holidays. It was a feast!” Leochko said. “Fruit was very expensive in those days…The food was really special,” he continued, “because you didn’t get it every day. Now you can have Christmas every day if you want.”
Another very special Ukrainian tradition was Caroling day. This was the day the men went out with their sleighs to sing carols door to door to raise money for the church. “The men would go out, and then come home with too much Christmas cheer,” Leochko laughed, “and the women would stay home with the kids. They didn’t drink.”
Leochko described how, in the 1940s and 1950s, they used a small sleigh which they called a “caboose”. This sleigh had a shell over it with two holes to see out of. Inside, there was a small wood heater made out of a 10 gallon oil drum. This kept travelers safe from freezing during the long travels over tens of miles. It could sometimes take a couple hours to go only ten miles.
The sleighs were used until the early 1960s. “In those days the roads weren’t plowed,” Leochko said. “it was also before the days of anti-freeze.”
“People change and times change,” Leochko said philosophically. “More or less, everyone was in the same category. Families were poorer, but they were closer, and there was not as much jealousy among the neighbours.”
Leochko theorized that attitudes changed largely because some people had bad land that was full of stones, while others had good land with few stones, and equipment, like tractors, could be used on the good land. Those people who could use tractors, and got them, started to think themselves better than those who could not, because they got richer. Leochko believes that is the reason there is so much more jealousy and competitiveness these days.
How has Christmas changed for Leochko over the years?
“I don’t think people drink as much as they used to,” he said. And he is going to buy toys for his grand kids. “Their parents can buy the practical things for them,” he said.
