Do you know how Roma families celebrate Christmas?

Culture

Dec. 30, 2024

Oleksandra Krasilova

By and large, there are about 15 ethnic subgroups of Roma people living in Ukraine. Their customs and traditions are very much like Ukrainian ones: they get together in their family circles, they prepare 15 lenten dishes, kutia, uzvar, and other meals.

Each one of these subgroups, however (nay, even each separate family) has its own unique traditions. In this episode of the podcast «Ai Tu Jianes. Did you know that?», team members of ARCA Youth Agency for Roma Culture Advocacy and Jianes media project share their family customs and traditions in the context of their roots.

Volodymyr Yakovenko, Executive Director of ARCA Youth Agency for Roma Culture Advocacy:

My ancestors once came to Ukraine from the present-day Kursk Oblast of Russia. At present, however, we live in the milieu of Serv Roma people which constitute the largest Roma community in Ukraine.

We are not accustomed to invite people over. If someone has expressed a desire to pay you a visit, you are to greet that person and accept him or her at your best. And, as we well know, Roma people usually have large families, hence they celebrate Christmas as crowds, so to say.

And whenever we invite guests over, there must be some poultry on the table—say, a turkey. After we have sung a Christmas carol, one of the most respected guests attending shall break the turkey into pieces and distribute them among everyone present.

During the cooking process, some ladies of the house hide coins inside that poultry dish: whoever finds a coin will prosper in the upcoming year.

Natali Tomenko, Deputy Director of ARCA Youth Agency for Roma Culture Advocacy:

My family is rooted in the Serv Roma ethnic subgroup. This is one of the largest Roma subgroups in Ukraine.

Back when my granddad was alive (and he was an extremely communicative and respected member of his community), we were frequented by many guests—relatives both from the father’s side of the family and from the mother’s side.

That had both its pros and cons. Me and my Mum, as women, had a lot of chores by the house. Preparations lasted for a week: we were cleaning, decorating our home, putting a huge Christmas tree.

There exists so-called ‘Roma’ and ‘non-Roma’ kutia. The Roma kutia which we make in our family home is made of rice. Whereas the ‘non-Roma’ kutia—that is, the Ukrainian one—is made of wheat. When a Ukrainian lady—my uncle’s wife—joined our family, we grew to fancy the ‘non-Roma’ kutia and thenceforth we started making both varieties.

Illia Herasymov, journalist:

I have roots in two subgroups of Roma people. On my father’s line, these are Servs; on my Mother’s line, these are Ruska Roma. I was brought up in the customs, traditions, and the dialect of Ruska Roma.

In our family, same people get together each and every year. We even know who is going to arrive first and who is going to arrive last, who is going to be late, and who—as usual—will be the first one to sit and await everyone else. We were accustomed to make a more dry kutia, with dried fruit, nuts, honey, and wheat.

In the home of the daughter-in-law, uncle’s wife, there was a tradition to bring hay into the house and scatter it around. We initially perceived it as some kind of madness. But over time, we got accustomed to it, as she started introducing elements of her traditions into our family.

Janusz Panchenko, Roma ethnographer and linguist:

My father is a Serv Roma, my mother is a Vlakh Roma, so I come from a mixed family—and have mixed traditions.

Vlakhs, for instance—unlike Servs—have a ritual of ‘blessing’ for the holidays. In order for a member of the family to be able to celebrate holidays, he or she must receive the blessing of his father. Same thing pertains to the right to cook certain meals.

Each Vlakh family has a certain ‘ancestral set of products’ which shall not be cooked. For instance, if a father never cooked pork, then his son will likewise be banned from cooking it. Hence Vlakh holiday cuisine may differ very much from family to family. Servs observe nothing of the kind. Each Serv is free to choose what to cook, when to cook, and how to cook. So if there is one son in the family, he is granted permit automatically.