- Title: Ukrainians craft Christmas stars for traditional parade
- Date: 10th January 2020
- Summary: CHRISTMAS STARS (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) CRAFTSMAN AND PARADE PARTICIPANT, MYKOLA STEPANYK, SAYING: "I made a star because the star in the sky showed where Jesus Christ was born. A star was moving in the sky and it stopped above the crib where the Son of God was born. So we on earth make a star that symbolises that star in the sky, and we participate in a festive procession around the city." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HOLDING CHRISTMAS STARS WOMAN SPINNING STAR
- Embargoed: 24th January 2020 10:45
- Keywords: Christmas celebration Christmas season Christmas stars Lviv Christmas stars Ukraine Christmas stars parade hand-made Christmas stars traditional parade
- Location: LVIV, UKRAINE
- City: LVIV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA002BVL9ZCP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of people marched around Ukraine's Lviv carrying colourful hand-decorated stars on Wednesday (January 8) one day after Orthodox Christmas.
In the parade, part of a festival lasting for a week during the Christmas season, people wearing traditional folk costumes and religious attire carried sticks holding the multi-coloured stars, many of which showed religious scenes.
One craftsman participating in the festival, Mykola Stepanyk, said he made a star by hand as he was inspired by the one that had shown the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
The star is a traditional religious symbol as in the story of Jesus' birth a star guided shepherds and the three wise men to the manger in Bethlehem where he was born.
At a workshop where children could make their own Christmas stars, ethnographer Christina Fedechko said Ukrainian villagers traditionally made Christmas stars with a wooden cage at its centre for a candle so it could be seen from far away.
For Oksana Golovatska, whose son Mark was among those participating in the workshop, the opportunity to learn this tradition gives a sense of Christmas magic.
The festival held in Lviv is dedicated to Kolyada, a pagan winter holiday which over the centuries has merged with Orthodox Christmas celebrations in Ukraine and some parts of Belarus.
In eastern European and Slavic culture, the Kolyada celebration today usually means strolling, singing, and entertaining during Christmas.
(Production: Andriy Popovych, Lyubov Sorokina, Anastasia Adasheva) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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