How are you doing in the new year 2009? We are sure that for you it feels like Christmas is long gone but for us it feels like we just recently got out of the “holiday season”. Most of January was still a holiday here. First it was Christmas (Jan.6-7), then the “Old New Year” on January 13 and after that the holiday of “Jesus’ Baptism” on January 19.
What we really like about Ukrainian Christmas is that during the Christmas season people greet each other with the first person saying “Khristos narodyvsya!" (Christ was born!) and the other person answering "Slavimo Yoho!" (We Glorify Him!). Of course, this does not mean that everybody is a true Christ-follower here in Ukraine, many people say this out of tradition, but it is still refreshing to hear this reminder of the true meaning of Christmas, compared to just hearing “Happy Holidays”.
Main square in Lviv on Christmas Day (January 7)
But not everything about Ukrainian Christmas is as Christ-honoring. Some Ukrainian Christmas traditions are plain pagan. For example these decorated sheaves of wheat, called “didukh”(meaning grandfather’s spirit). 
You will probably find different explanations of this tradition but most people will tell you that they set these up for protection – for the sheaf to “catch” evil spirits… and then they sometimes burn them at the end of the holiday season. You will see these sheaves everywhere—in people’s homes, in the stores, outside… They come in all shapes and sizes. In the picture below you see one big sheaf and many small sheaves. Under that, there is a big sign saying, “Glory to God in the highest”. What a strange mixture of Christianity and paganism!
The last day of the holiday season is usually considered to be January 19 – the holiday of “Jesus’ Baptism”. On that day, you will see crowds of people gathered in front of churches with bottles and other containers waiting to get some of this special holy water to bring home. Most of the time there are huge crowds of people waiting so this picture is not very typical.
For more pictures (ministry, family and other) click here.
As for a quick ministry update. This month, we have started meeting with the youth on Thursdays (besides our regular Sunday meetings). Not everyone can come on Thursdays so we usually only have couple of students for this Thursday Bible Study. But we are very thankful for this opportunity because it seems like we are able to go much deeper with a smaller group.
We are also very thankful for our helper, Sashko, who now not only helps us with the language, but he also started coming to our meetings and is involved in the spiritual part of lesson preparations (he went to a different church last year).
Our baby also seems to be doing fine. Our doctor thinks it’s a girl and we are more and more excited for our daughter’s arrival in just about three months. It is almost hard to believe that we are already starting week 27. Ministry is keeping us really busy and time just seems to fly by.
Thank you so much for your prayers and your support.
Blessings,
Tomasz and Miriam
