Ukrainian customs are heavily
influenced by Christianity, which is the dominant religion in the
country. Gender roles also tend to be more traditional, and
grandparents play a greater role in raising children than in the
West. The culture of Ukraine has been also influenced by its eastern
and western neighbours, which is reflected in its architecture,
music and art.
The Communist era had quite a strong effect on the art and writing
of Ukraine. In 1932, Stalin made socialist realism state policy
in the Soviet Union when he promulgated the decree "On the
Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organisations". This greatly
stifled creativity. During the 1980s glasnost (openness) was
introduced and Soviet artists and writers again became free to
express themselves as they wanted.
The tradition of the Easter egg, known as pysanky, has long roots in
Ukraine. These eggs were drawn on with wax to create a pattern;
then, the dye was applied to give the eggs their pleasant colours,
the dye did not affect the previously wax-coated parts of the egg.
After the entire egg was dyed, the wax was removed leaving only the
colourful pattern. This tradition is thousands of years old, and
precedes the arrival of Christianity to Ukraine.
The traditional Ukrainian diet includes chicken, pork, beef, fish
and mushrooms. Ukrainians also tend to eat a lot of potatoes,
grains, fresh and pickled vegetables. Popular traditional dishes
include varenyky (boiled dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes,
sauerkraut, cottage cheese or cherries), borsch (soup made of beets,
cabbage and mushrooms or meat) and holubtsy (stuffed cabbage rolls
filled with rice, carrots and meat). Ukrainian specialties also
include Chicken Kiev and Kiev Cake. Ukrainians drink stewed fruit,
juices, milk, buttermilk (they make cottage cheese from this),
mineral water, tea and coffee, beer, wine and horilka.
