Ukraine won’t allow Putin to steal their Christmas cheer

Ukraine is preparing to celebrate the winter holidays, and they have assured that they won’t allow Vladimir Putin to be the Grinch in their Christmas celebrations.

Image: Christmas carolers in downtown Lviv during the 2021 holiday celebrations.

CNN cites statements made by Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko to local news outlet RBC-Ukraine: “We cannot let Putin steal our Christmas”.

The Kyiv local government official assured that Christmas trees would be placed along the Ukrainian capital to celebrate the winter holidays.

Image: Workers decorating a tree in front of Kyiv's Saint Sophia Cathedral in December 2021.

“No one is going to cancel the New Year and Christmas, and there should be an atmosphere of the New Year,” Klitschko stated.

However, holiday celebrations will have certain limitations in Ukraine.

CNN highlights that energy company YASNO declared on their official Facebook account that Christmas trees wouldn’t be illuminated, in accordance with wartime restrictions.

After all, Ukraine has been suffering several attacks on the country’s infrastructure, affecting water, power, and communications.

Mass gatherings also remain prohibited under martial law.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also affected the religious trappings of the holiday season.

For centuries, Orthodox Christians have celebrated Christmas on January 6, the date Jesus was born according to the Julian calendar.

However, according to The Guardian, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has approved that worshipers can celebrate Christmas on December 25.

This switch has been seen as a way to distance themselves from the Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to Vladimir Putin.

Winter celebrations in Ukraine and all over the Slavic world are slightly different from those in the West.

Christmas was banned during most of the Soviet era, due to its religious connections. However, the secular trappings of the holiday simply were transferred into New Year’s Eve celebrations.

There’s a New Year’s Tree instead of a Christmas Tree and gifts are delivered by Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) and his companion, the snow maiden.

Santa Claus or Ded Moroz, let's hope Putin will get nothing but a lump of coal on Christmas morning.