12/19/08

Holidays in Ukraine

New Year Brings Out Our Miracles

By Liuda Revyakina, Nova Mova associate.

The closer the New Year approaches, the more we start to think about making some changes in our lives. It’s natural because, despite our occasional careless attitudes toward how we use our own time, we still hope that one more year is all we need for our aspirations to come true.

It’s a pretty tough beginning, isn’t it? We just wait for miracles to happen. After working so hard, seeing ourselves in the same daily routine, and finally just getting tired, we simply want chalk up another “not so good” year and celebrate the coming of the New Year – with all its opportunities – as well as we possibly can.

We have learned a good lesson already that the holiday is something humans create for themselves, and there are no bad or good “magicians” who cause changes for us on our way. Miracles aren’t out there waiting to happen to us; they sleep inside us, whether we care about them or not.

Let’s think of a miracle as a small, humble child who got used to hiding somewhere in our minds and has a well-deserved right for fun and indulgence once in a while. Should we let this poor child out? I wish I would never keep mine locked inside. Oh, how great it would be! Definitely, we are our own magicians and we are the ones who can release our own miracles.

It seems that so many of our New Year and Christmas traditions and practices are actually aimed at helping us release those hidden miracles. In Ukrainian culture, New Year is the holiday that holds so much of the magic that most Westerners find in Christmas.  Decorations, presents, celebrations and congratulations all give us the spirit with which we can find and release our inner miracles.

It’s interesting to observe how your city starts to adorn itself when just a few days are left before the New Year celebration. In fact, the process of festive preparation sometimes takes in even more charm and heartwarming expectations than the actual holiday time. In Kharkiv there is no snow right now, and the temperature does not want to fall below 5°C, but the winter holiday spirit is noticeably spreading all over the busy city. Craftsmen begin to decorate pine-trees, and lights of all colors make familiar fronts of office buildings and shopping centers mysterious and joyful.  It sets a stage for miracles to appear.

Presents are another matter. The world economic crisis and unemployment growth have not made us abandon our wish to spend this blissful holiday beautifully and impress our dearest and nearest with lovely presents. The most popular are those that symbolize the New Year and are related to well known characters such as Ded Moroz (the Slavic Santa Claus), Snegovik (the Ice Maiden) and the like.

Ukrainian people are tolerant of every kind of horoscope, and the Chinese style is no exception. What’s more, we are accustomed to associate every year with the 12-cycle Chinese horoscope creatures, so one can find different accessories representing the fabulous animals with promises of love, wealth and health right before New Year’s Eve. Enchanting toys and figures are believed to bring good luck into our homes and usually are put in a noticeable place at home next to the decorated pine tree. The giving and receiving of gifts help our inner miracles to come even further into the open.

In fact, New Year is a special holiday for us. The reasons that make it special are not only the long row of days off, congratulating each other, and enjoying holiday TV and foods, but a strong motivation to start something new or to change our attitudes toward what we already have. It’s a time when we let our troubles “have a rest” because all misfortunes tend to end eventually if we do not care about them for a while.

My sport trainer likes to say that he is a convinced materialist and does not believe in miracles. But I would like to offer a small amendment. Miracles do exist, but too often we do not take proper notice of them. I’m sure that these vulnerable creatures are inside us, patiently waiting for us to let them go so that they can change our lives.

At one time or another we may think that we are ready to let our own miracles be released. However, time is often wiser than we are. I even dare to think that time is that invisible power that puts things in the right order, whether we want it or not.

Well, I am not a psychology expert, and this sketch is not a case to make a point about questions for which people have been seeking answers for centuries. Still, the New Year holiday can give us a good start – for hope, taking bold actions, forgiving others, and generally giving our inner miracles a chance to change us for the better.

For 2009, I wish everybody to make his or her own start.

Happy New Year!

Liuda Revyakina, a native of Kharkiv, is a Nova Mova translation associate and freelance writer who writes about travel, business – and life – for Nova Mova and Discovering Ukraine magazine.

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