The Orthodox Christmas mass at Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church in Waterford Saturday was steeped with tradition.
The Orthodox Church follows the 2,000-year-old Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, first adopted in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.
About 40 people gathered for the nearly two-hour service conducted entirely in Ukrainian.
“For those people who recently came here, the newcomers, so they would hear it and feel more like at home,” said Ukrainian refugee Olha Diletchuk, who was translating for Rev. Lyubomyr Levytskyy during an interview after the mass.
In his Christmas Day sermon, Levytskyy had encouraged the congregation to stay strong during the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Now we are fighting and we have to be joined all together,” said Diletchuk.
“Even during the Soviet Union, all soldiers, all people who couldn’t go to the church, they were sharing this Christmas spirit. And that is how it came to us – now we have the same situation, we have the war and we have different troubles. We have to share this Christmas spirit as well, to pass it to others. We don’t need to hide. Especially in this moment, in this Christmas time, we have to stay together, we have to share it.”
The Sacred Heart Ukrainian congregation has been growing in recent months as new immigrants come to Norfolk County.
“Today were a lot of the younger people,” said Diletchuk, who came to Canada in June and now lives at Schafer House in Delhi, a multi-unit residential building created by Mike and Sandy Kloepfer.
“We have one more family, with two beautiful children, that only came two weeks ago.”
“We are trying to save our tradition, our language,” said Father Levytskyy, noting the importance of saying (and singing) the mass in Ukrainian.
“Even though we are living in Canada, we have to pass this language and traditions to our next generations,” said Diletchuk.
Diletchuk’s mother, Luidmyla Borys, who came to Canada one month ago, also attended Saturday’s mass, chauffeured from Delhi by Jon Kloepfer.
“At the moment she is safe,” said Diletchuk. “My brother stays in Ukraine, so she is worried about them.”
The newcomers share some Christmas traditions with Canadians, but some are unique to Europe and Ukraine.
“It’s the same message, Jesus was born,” said Diletchuk. “It’s not such a big difference.”
“What I noticed was you giving gifts on Saint Nicholas Day instead of Christmas Day,” said Kloepfer.
“We have Saint Nicholas Day on Dec. 19 (Julian calendar),” Diletchuk nodded. “And we have a tradition to put all the presents under the pillow, so early in the morning kids could find them.”
This year Ukrainian families at Schafer House also celebrated a Dec. 24 (Gregorian calendar) Christmas Eve meal together – but did not exchange presents.
“We took this tradition but we don’t do it the same,” said Diletchuk. “Presents only on Saint Nicholas Day.”