Ukrainian Festival Food
Ukrainian folk culture (including rituals, beliefs, festivals, music, art, food) has its origins in the cycle of life, and the primaeval organic relationship between people and the land which enabled them to exist. Many of the customs and rituals associated today with Christian festivals such as Easter and Christmas originally evolved as celebrations of natural events, such as spring, the solstices, the harvest etc., and were continued when Ukraine embraced Christianity in 988 A.D. So, for example, the use and decoration of eggs as a symbol of new life, which was an essential ritual for thousands of years, came to symbolise the Resurrection and became an important part of the celebration of Easter.
In the slide show on this topic you will see and read about some Ukrainian Easter traditions, including festival food. Look at the photographs in the slides and try to understand the Ukrainian texts as they appear in the animations. The notes provide a translation of the texts and an explanation of how to say what you do (in the present tense); the words used in the slides are given in the vocabulary list.