Bury St Edmunds Ukrainian refugee shares her home country's traditions ahead of Christmas

A Ukrainian woman living in Bury St Edmunds has shared how her country celebrates Christmas as refugees prepare to observe the festive holiday in a different way this year.

Larysa Taranenko, 49, fled with her now 18-year-old nephew in May and has settled into life in the town, teaching university students in Ukraine remotely as well as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes at Cambridge Regional College.

Although there is a deep wish within the Ukrainian community to return home over Christmas, many have accepted that this year will be a multicultural celebration, blending British traditions with their own.

Larysa said: “We will celebrate with our host families and join their Christmas dinner. We have brought presents and I was thinking about making some of the dishes that we usually cook for the festivities. But it is sad. My nephew said he doesn’t feel like celebrating Christmas and he doesn’t want presents as it would be unfair because we have our soldiers in trenches in -10 degrees. It won’t be the typical celebration.”

Ukrainian people usually celebrate Christmas Eve on January 6 and Christmas Day on January 7, although little by little the majority of Ukrainians are in favour of celebrating Christmas on December 25. Traditional dishes are prepared such as kutya – a grain and dried fruit porridge with crushed poppy seeds mixed with Uzvar – a stewed fruit compote.There should be 12 dishes on the table with the number symbolising the 12 apostles of Jesus.

Ukrainian women as ever are being as proactive as they can, thinking about how they can help those still in the war-torn country.

Some are considering buying and transporting generators to help areas which have been left without power. They will also try to raise as much money as they can at a Christmas Eve service at St Edmundsbury Cathedral on January 6 by selling sweets and gingerbread.

As the year draws to a close, Larysa looks back at her time in Bury.

She said: “The UK is our home away from home. Children are smiling and mums are happy – that is what the Christmas period is about.

“I would like to thank the people of Bury for their immensely huge hearts. We are very grateful and we will do as much as we can to pay them back by contributing to this community, sharing our knowledge and experiences.”

To find out more about the Ukrainian Christmas Eve event, see here.

The event runs from 5pm until 7pm.