LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND TRADITIONS
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Academic Mobility Office
Language
There is one official language in Ukraine - Ukrainian. Ukrainian language came from Old Slavonic. The national poet Taras Shevchenko played the significant role in development of language in XIX century. Throughout its history, Ukrainian language suffered from Russian and Polish powers, that banned literature and plays in Ukrainian. Nowadays, Ukrainian language is used in all spheres and has a strong state support. Except Ukrainian, there are several languages of ethnic minorities, as Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Slovak, Crimean Tatar, and Jewish. Ukrainian language uses Cyrillic alphabet with 33 letters.
Culture and Traditions
Ukrainian culture is rich and ancient. Ukrainian customs are influenced by the Eastern Orthodox Church and traditions from Slavic mythology. Ukrainian names, as well as Russian and Belarusian, consists of the surname (family name, often derived from names of professions), name (mostly from Slavic and Greek origin) and patronymic (name of father with suffix “-vna” for women and “-vich” for men).
MUSIC
Music is a major part of Ukrainian culture. Ukraine has internationally recognised musicians, including Okean Elzy and Ruslana. Mykola Lysenko is the father of Ukrainian classical music. Composer Mykola Leontovych wrote the world-wide famous composition “Shchedryk”, which became the traditional American Christmas song “Carol of the Bells“. Ukraine hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and 2017.
CUISINE
The traditional Ukrainian cuisine includes chicken, pork, beef, fish and mushrooms, as well as potatoes, grains, fresh, boiled or pickled vegetables. Popular traditional dishes include varenyky, nalysnyky, kapusnyak, borscht, holubtsy, Chicken Kyiv and Kyiv cake. Ukrainians national drinks are buttermilk, beer and vodka (horilka).
SPORT
The most popular sport is football. The Ukrainian team reached the quarterfinals in FIFA 2006 World Cup. Ukrainians are also great in boxing, where the brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko won the world heavyweight championships. Serhiy Bubka was voted the world’s best athlete, and Ruslan Ponomariov is the former world champion in chess.
HOLIDAYS
There are several Ukrainian national holidays (see below). Except for these days, some traditional holidays are celebrated, like Maslyana (the end of winter), Ivan Kupala Day (good August harvest), Kolyada (Christmas eve) and many others. During holidays, most people do not work, but services and shops are mostly open.
National holidays in Ukraine include:
New Year – January 1
Orthodox Christmas – January 7
International Women’s Day – March 8
Easter – April-May
International Workers’ Day – May 1
Victory Day / Memorial Day – May 9
Pentecost – May-June
Constitution Day – June 28
Independence Day – August 24
Day of Defender of Ukraine – October 14
Catholic Christmas – December 25