HOLIDAYS IN UKRAINE
As you know, the word "holidays" comes from the words "holy day". Many years ago all holidays were religion holidays, but nowadays many of them have nothing do with religion. Each country has its own holidays, important events in its history.
As we live in Ukraine, we have our own customs and traditions, holidays and festivals. On the 24-th of August, 1991 Ukraine became a sovereign state. That is why the Ukrainian people celebrate this day, the independence Day, as the greatest national holiday.
New Year is widely observed in Ukraine. On this day people have either a family party or a group party of young people. This usually begins at 9 o'clock p.m. and goes on till the early hours in the morning. There is a lot of drinking and eating on the festive table; but the main thing is that the New Year is the holiday of expectations. The children decorate the New Year tree with toys and colored lights. When the clock strikes 12 everybody drinks a glass of champagne and says "Happy New Year" to each other. Christmas Day is observed on the 7-th of January. You know this holiday is of religious origin. Most people observe the tradition of going to church and having a tasty dinner. The Ukrainian people traditionally cook 12 dishes, there shouldn't be dishes containing meat or milk products/there is a tradition to start the dinner with cootya (boiled wheat with poppy seeds and nuts). Children usually visit their godparents and bring them kalach, sweets, oranges, apples, nuts. Godchildren are given presents. Small children sing carol songs and are given money or sweet as and chocolates for that. It's one the most favorite Holidays in Ukraine.
On the 8-th of March we celebrate the Women's Day. It is a nice spring holiday when men give presents and flowers to their wives, sweethearts, girl friends, sisters and daughters. Children congratulate their mothers on this holiday or send them holiday cards with the best wishes.
Easter is also the time when people give and receive presents. They traditionally take a form of an Easter egg and a baked bun. There is an old custom of painting the shells of the boiled eggs. It's a kind of art. People in different regions of Ukraine do it in their own way.
On the first of April people celebrate April Fool's Day. It's a festival of humor, when people play practical Jokes on each other.
The 9-th of May is a Victory Day, the holiday of victory over the fascist invaders. People come to the monuments and memorials to those who were killed during the war to put flowers and to remember the people who gave their lives in the struggle for the great Victory. War veterans are greeted and there is a salute and fireworks in the evening.


from the history
of Odessa

Odessa is comparatively young. The foundation of Odessa dates back to the end of the 18-th century. But the Black Sea coast was inhabited thousands of years ago. Many traces of ancient culture were found here and we can see them in the Archeological Museum.
From the 7-th to 5-th centuries B.C. Greek colonies were here. In the 1-st century A.D. this territory was occupeid by the Roman Empire.
In the 9-th century the East slavs inhabited this territory. In the I0-I2th centuries these lands were the lands of Kiev Russ. Later they were conquered by the Crimean Khanate. In the 13-th century on the spot where Odessa stands there appeared the settlement of Kachibeevo. It was destroyed by the Tatars and later restored by the Turkish who called it Hadjibey. In 1764 they built the Hadjibey fortress to defend themselves from their enimies
The Russian - Turkish wars took place in the 2-nd half of the 18-th century. They're the continuation of Russion's struggle against Turkish and Tatar aggression for the return of the nothern coast of the Black Sea
Russian s struggle for an outlet to the Black Sea was a success. In 1789 the Hadjibey fortress fell under the attack of Deribas troops. Later one of the main streets of our city was called Deribasovskaya street in his honour. The country began to settle this area. It was called Novorossia. New towns and ports were founded here; such as Odessa, Kherson, Nikolaev and Tiraspol. (1793) foundation of Odessa is associated with the name of the great Suvoroff who directed building works in the new town. On the 2-nd of September (august, 27), 1794 the 1-st stones of future seaport were laiddown September considered to be the day of the foundation of Odessa. That's why we celebrate the birthday of Odessa on this day 1 The new city was called Odessa.
There are many legends about the origin of the name of the city. One of them says that there was an ancient Greek settlement of Odessos on the North-West coast of the Black Sea. But later on it was discovered that Odessos had been near the city of Varna.
The city grew rapidly. The 1-st governer of Odessa was Duke de Richelieu. He made a great contribution to the building of our city. The city was built according to a general plan. It was a well planned city with straight streets and big squares. The city was designed and built by outstanding Russian and foreign architects. At the beginning of the 19-th century Odessa became one of the most industrial economic and cultural, centres in the South of Russia. Odessa was a free port where all the imported goods,were duty free. Odessa remained a free port for 40 years. (1819-1853)
There were more than 50000 citizens in Odessa, mostly the Russians and the Ukrainians, though Odessa has always been attracting people of different nationalities. Soon in Odessa there were Greek, Bulgarian, Italian, Moldavien, French, German and Gewish communities. This internationalism and the mixture of cultures determined the image of the city which has preserved up to nowadays. It can be proved by the number of churches in Odessa. Here you can fin Orthodox, Catholic protestant churches, synagogue and a mosque.


The Odessa
Opera and Ballet House
is one of the city's architectural sights

The theatre building was constructed in 1887 according to the project of the Vienna architects F. Felner and G. Gelmer. On this very site there stood before an old municipal theatre built in 1809. Its designer was a Russian architect Toma de Tomon. The old theatre was burnt down in 1873. The construction of the new building which was to become an architectural pearl of the city was started on September 28, 1884. The curtain was first raised on October 13. Considering the scope of the work done, its complexity and refinement we can call the builders real magicians of their deed. Legend says that F. Felner who arrived in Odessa from Vienna in 1887 for the opening ceremony cried out: "This is the best theatre in the world!". There is no historical confirmation of this assertion. But- there are more than enough enthusiastic comments from the city's guests. Here is one. It belongs to the English writer James Aldridge who on visiting Odessa in the spring 1983 said: "Magnificent I haven't seen in any country of the world an opera house like this". The design of the exterior of the Odessa Opera House is made, as the specialists hold, in baroque. But there are also many elements of the Renaissance style.
The lines of the building are so highly dynamic that a visual effect of lessening its dimensions and minimizing its size is achieved. The dynamism is obtained at the expense of the articulation of the facade, by plasticity of decoration and utilizing the effect of chiaroscuro
The composition of the building is complicated but at the same time very simple: the front part is horseshoe-shaped with three adjacent porticos placed on different levels with a dome crowning the top. Well planned and erected are three horizontal circles. The ground one is squat-dead load of the construction is deliberately increased being devoid of any stucco moulding. The first circle consists of loggias with Tuscan columns, the tops of which are disk-shaped supporting right-angled slabs. The second circle has loggias with complicated apertures and columns having showy capitals: the large columns are Ionic and the smaller ones are Corinthian.
The house has twenty entrances and three additional ones are for the staff. The facade of the edifice is richly decorated with sculptures representing characters of Ancient Greek mythology. ^Over the main portico is Mel-pomena placed on a pedestal. She is tearing along in a chariot harnessed to four panthers. The Muse has a torch in her hand, her right hand is raised in a salute. On both sides are two genii holding laurel garlands.
Two more groups are placed on the second pedestal. The one on the right shows Terpsichora reaching a young creature to dance. The left group portrays Orpheus enchanting the Centaur by his playing on the lyre. Below on both sides of the entrance to the central portico are two more groups: an allegoric presentation of Comedy and Tragedy.
There are two altorelievo portrayals on the fasade of the portico right over the balcony-two Glories with garlands in their hands. In the niches over the second circle you can see the busts of M. Glinka, A. Pushkin, N. Gogol, A. Griboyedov personifying Music, Poetry, Comedy and Drama.
The interior decoration is mainly in rococo, lavish and rich. The eye glides from the almost stern simplicity of the boxes to the dress circle in the decor of which there is more freedom; from them the eye glides to the more whimsically decorated boxes of the first and second circles; and then to a graceful and almost airy arcade which frames the gallery. Magnificent is the ceiling the middle part of which has four paintings representing scenes from Shakespeare's plays: "Hamlet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", ''A Winter Tale" and "As You Like it". The central chandelier weighs almost two and a half tons. In 1926 there was another fire. These were the difficult years for the young Soviet Republic. But throughout these times the Government of the Soviet State took full care of the spiritual life of the working masses. A special resolution assigning sums for the reconstruction of the Odessa Theatre was adopted. People's Commissar A. Lunacharsky took a constant interest in the progress of the work. In a year in the spring of 1926 the theatre was reopened. In 1967 a thourought restoration was carried out. Ten kilograms of gold of the highest standard was used in the course of the work. Many outstanding Russian and foreign mus;cians of the end of the XIX th century and the XXth appeared on the stage of the theatre.
The Odessa Nezhdanova Conservatoire, which is the main source of artists for the Odessa Opera, has produced eminent musicians: D. Oystrakh, E. Gilels, T. Zakh, M. Fikhengolts, B. Rudenko, G. Oleini-chenko, E. Chavdar, Z. Khristich. All of them have been pupils of Odessa Conservatoire Professor O. Blagovidova who worked at the Department of Solo Singing from 1933 up to her death in 1975 In today's theatre company are the People's artist of the USSR R. Sergienko, People's artists of the Ukrainian SSR N.Ogrenich, A. Rihter, Z. Lysak, and others.
The pride of the theatre is its ballet company which more than once has been on tours including abroad. The company has stable creative links with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. For example, Maya Plisetskaya danced with the Odessa company during its tours in Spain. Before that she staged two ballet performance in the Odessa Theatre.
The ballet soloists N. Barysheva, S. Antipova, E. Karavayeya, M. Petoohov, P. Fomin, N. Stoyan, S Japparov and others are much beloved by the audince. In 1929 the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre was awarded the title of academic. The edifice is protected by the State. It is the object of love, care and pride of the Black Sea City's inhabitants.