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Ukrainian Christmas Tradition

Thursday, December 13, 2012

I got so many emails and comments about the robin redbreast post, I thought I'd share another unique Christmas tradition with you.

Let me explain how I know about these traditions.  I taught Girls in Action (GA's) for fourteen years.  GA's teaches elementary aged girls about missions and cultures from around the world. I think it's so important for kids to learn about different cultures because it isn't taught in schools much anymore.

Every December, GA's not only learn about Lottie Moon and the Christmas offering for International Missions, they also learn about Christmas traditions from another country.

One year we studied about the Ukraine.  Ukrainians do not clean spider webs from their homes during the weeks leading up to Christmas.  The legend states that a spider wove an intricate web to entertain the baby Jesus while in the stable.  The web was his first toy and considered special.

The Ukrainians place a special spider's web ornament on the tree, and the lucky person who finds the web first on Christmas day has good luck for an entire year.  They also decorate with spiders, too.  One tree we saw looked sort of Goth, so the older girls thought it was "cool."  ;P



Ukrainian spider web ornament


Do you have any strange Christmas traditions in your family?

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

11 comments

  1. I've seen the spider web trees before at a Christmas around the world exhibit. Neat story behind it. Thanks!

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  2. wow what an interesting post I always learn something new when I stop by thank you

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  3. oh my gosh that's so cool, so interesting, i have a few spider webs around here too but not for such good reasons! ;)

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  4. Oh wow, it's fun to learn about the traditions of other countries. My aunt was from the Ukraine, if she was still with us, I would have loved to ask her all about this!

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  5. Unique and very informative Ricki! In our country, we hang the unique Christmas lanterns like this

    https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTgIkXojqjk3nHhoy_gFvKH1BypfJd9vHKdX7qOvQjO-yrJp6sB

    We use stars as Xmas decors because of our attachment to that Christmas story, the three Kings were guided by the star to Bethlehem.

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  6. I love this story!!
    It is so fun reading all the different tales from around the world.
    No, no strange traditions around here, well nothing we consider strange, lol ;)
    Amy

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  7. Hi Ricki...wonderful post. So much to learn. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. I love learning about traditions in other countries. It would be hard for me to leave the spider webs up,though. Hugs, Laura

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  9. I didn't know of this tradition. What a beautiful ornament and story.

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  10. How very cool! There's a tribal custom (I forget which tribe, unfortunately) that believes killing spiders is back luck, since Mother Spider weaves the stories of the world. In my family we adhered to that strictly, and had a 'catch and release' program for all arachnids found in the house. Maybe we're somewhat Ukranian, and didn't realize it? ;)
    I am definitely going to hide spiderweb ornaments on my tree in the future!

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I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

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