UNESCO World Heritage List to Include Ukrainian Tradition of Generous Evening

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the NGO Institute of Culture of Ukraine are working to include the element "Tradition of the Generous Evening (Shchedryi Vechir) in Ukraine" in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The head of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Rostyslav Karandieiev, said this at a briefing at the Kyiv Cave Monastery, the ministry's website reports.

He stressed that the preservation of traditions in Ukraine has been an extraordinary challenge for many centuries, as first imperial Russia and then the Soviet government did everything to destroy the identity of the Ukrainian nation.

Karandieiev emphasised that the tradition of the Generous Evening is one of those that form the identity of the Ukrainian people.

"Today, one of the main tasks of the state is to preserve as much as possible the traditions that distinguished Ukrainians from others and became the basis for our identity," Karandieiev said.

Emine Dzhaparova, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, stressed that the creation of a dossier for the National List is an important step towards inscribing the tradition of generosity on the UNESCO list.

According to her, the process of inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List is divided into several stages. First, by 31 March, Ukraine has to submit the dossier to the Secretariat of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage, and then, by June, the Secretariat will evaluate the dossier. By September, Ukraine will have the opportunity to make amendments, and around December, the dossier will be submitted to the Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage.

"Indeed, the process is not quick: it can take two years from the submission of the dossier to the Committee's review," Dzhaparova explained.

At the same time, Maryna Sobotiuk, co-founder of the NGO Institute of Culture of Ukraine and researcher of Ukrainian culture, spoke about the traditions of generosity. She emphasised that this year Ukraine celebrates the Generous Evening on 31 December for the first time. Therefore, on 1 January, Ukrainians will be able to perform the Malanka ritual and the ritual of sowing.

"We have been preparing the dossier for a year. Of course, we researched what the tradition of the Generous Evening is. This includes 12 ritual dishes, which the family united to prepare. It also includes caroling: singing carols and the ritual of driving a goat. Ukrainians believed that the more carolers a family hosted, the more prosperous it would be," said Sobotiuk.

Also during the event, Jerry Heil, a youth ambassador of the intangible cultural heritage element of the "Tradition of the Generous Evening in Ukraine", performed the carol "Oi syvaya tai zozulenka (Oh, grey-haired and cuckoo birdie)".

On 26 December, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine approved the decision to include the tradition of the Generous Evening in Ukraine in the National List of Elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine.

The Ministry has already included 88 elements in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine, including those related to the New Year's celebration cycle. These include: The traditional Malanka ritual, the tradition of the Vasyls' feast, and the creation of a three-dimensional spherical Christmas star.