Hello everybody and welcome to this week's edition of the language vlog newsletter! :D

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Christmas done and did, it's now New Year's time.

The one big change for this year's holiday season in Canada and within the Ukrainian culture I grew up in is that Christmas was celebrated on December 25th instead of January 7th, which is what the Orthodox Church does. However, as history would have it, the Ukrainian Catholic Church decided to match the date with that of Europe.

We posted quite a few videos throughout the week, mostly focusing on Ukrainian-Canadian traditions, including food, music, and other customs around this time. The list is below.

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This week's videos:

1. Short: Harry Potter in LATIN?!
2. Short: Sviat Vechir - Christmas Eve
3. Short: Ukrainian Kutia
4. Short: Schedryk and the Carol of the Bells
5. Short: The Good Ol' Hockey Game
6. Short: Take a Minute for Yourself
7. EXTRA: Chinese Course!

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Harry Potter in LATIN?! - Okay, in the decidedly not-very-Christmas tradition, one of the books that's been on my bookshelf in Canada is Harry Potter in Latin. I have the first two Harry Potter titles (Philosophi Lapis and Cameratorum Secretorum) in Latin that I I think I received as gifts many years ago. Back then I thought I would be able to make my way through them quickly. After all, if they are easy books to read in English, then how hard could they be in Latin?

The problem I found, however, was time! As so many people face restrictions on their time, trying to read a book in another language, even if it's one you're familiar with, can be a practice in patience rather than of a language skill.

Be that as it may, I have and keep these two books with the thought in mind that one day I will return to them and read them through. Maybe they will be course textbooks at some point in the future?

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Sviat Vechir / Christmas Eve - Twas the night before Christmas, all the creatures were stirring, moving about the house, in preparation for an evening dinner get together and reflecting on traditions gone by, including making a video to post on the nigh'.

Rough work, but I think it gets the message across.

Sviat Vechir (Святвечір), translated as "Holy Evening" from Ukrainian, is also known as Christmas Eve. In the Ukrainian-Canadian tradition, we typically have 12 dishes served, the number representing the number of apostles following Jesus. All of the dishes are meatless, though some families may opt for meatless AND dairy-less. Whichever food type they follow, there is typically an order to the evening:

-Wait for the first star to appear in the night sky (usually around 5:30 pm Winnipeg, possibly sooner)

-Sing Christmas carols such as Boh Previchney (Бог Предвічний) and Vo Vephliemy (Во Вифлеємі)

-Serve and eat Kutia (Кутя), typically followed by borsch (Борщ - beet soup)

-Serve and eat the remaining dishes

Some families will also attend Midnight Liturgy at their church, but this seems to depend on the age and the likelihood of people being able to make it to the service. To be very traditional is to attend both Midnight Liturgy AND Christmas Day Liturgy, but my family has always chosen just one. If we opt for the Christmas Day, then we can't open gifts until after we come back from church.

This year was also the first year that the whole Ukrainian Church celebrated Christmas on the 25th of December instead of following up two weeks later. The rituals and traditions stay the same, but the timing has changed, that's all.

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Ukrainian Kutia - The first dish served on Christmas Eve is Kutia (Кутя), or porridge made of wheat, buckwheat honey, poppy seeds, water, and salt, with nuts and raisins being optional add-ins.

Apparently there are two types of Kutia: the version WITH poppy seeds and the version WITHOUT.

Kutia WITH poppy seeds is typically served at Christmas and other such festive occasions as the poppy seeds represent fertility (and were plentiful in Ukraine).

Kutia WITHOUT poppy seeds can be served at funerals or occasions commemorating those who have passed away (though it doesn't seem to be a common practice in Canada).

Depending on how much water you put into the mixture, the Kutia can be like a soup or a porridge. The buckwheat honey gives it a little more flavour, though I tried using buckwheat honey with my yogurt another time and... it didn't taste the way I thought it would.

Similar to rice pudding, it's a sweet dish that can be served hot or cold.

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Schedryk and the Carol of the Bells - If there's anyt song more recognizable as being "Christmas" it's the Carol of the Bells. Duh duh daduh duh duh daduh and on it goes, but that's the version with lyrics. The Carol of the Bells that is so famous around the world (and copyrighted) is based on a Ukrainian song called "Schedryk" (Щедрик) written by Alexander Leontovych in the early 1900s.

It wasn't until Olexander Koshetz performed Schedryk with the Ukrainian National Choir at Carnegie Hall in New York that the song, and its famous four-note motif, would become popular. It was after this performance that Peter Wilhousky would write lyrics for the song and then have it performed as Carol of the Bells. Since the song's motif, duh duh daduh, reminded Wilhousky of bells, he wrote a song dedicated to that.

However, the song Leontovych wrote, Schedryk, was based on a traditional Ukrainian style of song called "schedrivka" which were sung around the new year and meant to wish people health and prosperity into the new harvest season.

So, after hearing the song, how long does it take to get it out of your head?

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The Good Ol' Hockey Game - Spurred on by a walk around the neighbourhood, I came across a common sight in many Canadian cities, especially "smaller" cities that aren't choked full of skyscrapers: a hockey rink.

Just as snow is common to winter, so are hockey rinks common to a community as a place people can go skate, walk, play hockey, or simply watch others play. This is where a lot of kids get their ice skating practice, though many will still take skating lessons in an arena to get better.

Hockey? Very common, especially the "pick up" style of game, where whoever's around gets put on a team and the game goes on until people get tired.

Have you played hockey? Have you ever played it on ice or on a grass field?

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Take a Minute for Yourself - And finally, a short reminder to take a break this holiday season to simply sit in silence and reflect. I've mentioned in other emails and podcasts that birthdays are a good time to reflect as opposed to the change over of the calendrical year. But, that being said, in and amongst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it's a good idea to take some time to ourselves and think about how things are going. This will help "re-centre" yourself and give you the energy to keep going and meeting more people in this very brief holiday time.

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The Chinese course! - Finally finally finally, it's on its way. Next week we're going to launch a Chinese course by email that we think will help people become acquainted with the Chinese language through brief "mini lessons" each and every day.

We'll send out the sign up form once it's released!

And please, be sure to send us your feedback as this is the first time we're running the course. It no doubt has some room for improvement.

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We'll leave it there for this week. Thank you very much for reading!

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Suggestions? Get in touch! We'd love to hear from you! You can email us here or follow us on YouTube and post a comment, we'll get back to you!

Thanks for reading and let us know if there's anything we can help you with!

-Steve

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