Some Ukrainian children in Ireland have written letters to St Nicholas asking him to send their presents here because they are afraid they will be delivered to their homeland, says grandmother Valentina Grishenko.
She chokes back tears as she recalled the letters two of her grandchildren recently wrote to their version of Santa Claus. “The children worry that St Nicholas will not know where they are. So probably he knows that they should be in Ukraine and they worry whether he comes here to Ireland with presents. My grandkids write a letter to St Nicholas ‘I am in Irlandia. I am not at home,’” she says. “Max my grandson says that he is ready to go back home to clean the snow so our army goes faster.”
Valentina, who lives in pledged accommodation in Cork, says she is grateful to Irish people for the reception she and her family got on their arrival from Ukraine after a “forced journey” during which one of her two daughters was heavily pregnant.
“One of my daughters gave birth to a child two months ago here. An Irish baby, “she says. “I never thought it (the war) would last so long.”
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One of her daughters is a teacher who is now working in a local restaurant whilst her other daughter is employed as a translator for the Ukrainian community in Cork.
Meanwhile, mother and daughter Svetlana and Valeriia Deikun will celebrate Christmas day with their host family, also in Cork, having arrived from Mariupol earlier this year.
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Valeriia (15) said that initially they were placed in a sports hall in Clonmel, Co Tipperary with 50 other people. They were invited to Cork for two days to participate in a concert and then a “miracle” happened and a family they had met offered them accommodation. Valeriia says her 72-year-old grandmother is also with them in Ireland.
On Christmas Eve, she says: “We have a very interesting tradition of 12 dishes. We all go to a different family home when we are in Ukraine and everyone brings a dish from different families.”
Svetlana, who is a music teacher, says singing their own traditional Christmas songs has helped to deal with the trauma. They are part of the Kayla choir which is performing in a series of Christmas concerts in Cork. At a recent performance with the Barrack Street Band in Togher church, the choir sang Silent Night in Ukrainian and then had Irish attendees sing it back to them in English
The choir was formed in October drawing newly arrived Ukrainians from all over Cork to rehearsals once a week. Among the members is Olena Munobe, who was six months pregnant when she had to leave Ukraine last March. Her new baby Sofia is so accustomed to rehearsals she sleeps through the music, she says,
Olena says that while Ukrainians enjoy Christmas as a celebration, January 1st is more popular. “All the tasty food is placed on the table. We invite friends and we speak about good things that happened during the year.”
Olena is from the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk and fears she may never be able to go home. Her father died in Ukraine last month and she is worried about the strain this has placed on her mother. “My mother put in so much energy to take care of the rest of the people that she went to hospital exhausted.”
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Meanwhile, the glue that keeps the choir together is Viktoria Tymoshchuck who travelled to Cork from Kherson in June. She assists Ukrainian people as they attempt to settle in to Irish society. Sharing music and song helps them “to reach the hearts of the Irish and express our thanks”.
Christmas is an important time of year in Ukraine and every effort will be made to continue their traditions in Ireland this year, she says.
“At Christmas Ukrainians like to cook a salty jelly made of pork. They also make a turkey which is like what you have on the table. We prepare different pastries,” she says. “It is all about family and love.”