St. Nicholas Day

The celebration of St. Nicholas Day is very well known in the Western part of Ukraine, but over the past few years, it has been getting more popular to celebrate it all over Ukraine. 

St. Nicholas’ history in Ukraine goes back to the 10th and 11th centuries. We can see his icons in almost every church. St Nicholas has always been considered to be a patron saint of children. In Ukraine and other Eastern European Christian countries, St. Nicholas Day is celebrated on the 6th of December.       The first written records of Ukrainians celebrating St. Nicholas Day by giving presents to children and the poor date back to the 15th century. This tradition came to the Western part of Ukraine from catholic Poland, while people in the rest of Ukraine celebrated St. Nicholas Day in different ways. In the late 1930s, Soviet authorities created a new character, Did Moroz (Grandfather Frost), who took the place of Saint Nicholas. Did Moroz comes on New Year’s Day, not December 6th. This meant that in atheist Soviet Ukraine, the New Year celebration became more important than St. Nicholas Day and even Christmas.