There are many holidays celebrated in Ukraine. They can be divided in three groups: all-national, political and religious ones. Some of them have an ancient origin and others appeared in Ukrainian calendars quite recently. All official holidays are marked with red in Russian calendars and are days-off (excepting for our Service!)

Here is the list of main Ukrainian holidays and some comments.

January 1. New Year. This is everybody's favourite holiday. Decorating the Christmas tree, going to New Year's parties, getting presents, — we love all this and impatiently wait for New Year's eve to come. This is a nice chance to give your lady a present and prove her that she is really very important to you.

January 6. Orthodox Christmas. A great deal of old Ukrainian customs that go back to centuries ago are connected with Christmas. They are fortune telling, singing Christmas carols, cooking traditional Ukrainian Christmas dishes, going to church.

February 14. St. Valentine's Day. The Day of lovers, when we give presents and flowers to our sweethearts.

March 8. International Women's Day. This day is hugely popular among women in Ukraine as they receive flowers and chocolates from the men they know. They should not do any housework on this day. It is recommended to send flowers and some gifts to all your Ukrainian ladies. It will be highly appreciated as it is considered to be a sign of your attention (or lack of attention).

May 1-2. Originally the Day of International Solidarity of Workers, it became just a holiday of spring though communists make their traditional demonstrations on that day.

May 9. The Victory Day. There is hardly a Russian family which would not suffer from Nazis in the Great Patriotic war 1941-1945. There is always a military parade involving all the people who took part in World War II. All the old uniforms are worn with the original medals. Their family and friends give these old soldiers flowers and congratulations.

August 24. Independence Day. In 1991 independence was proclaimed and Ukraine became a Sovereign state. A very important holiday.

November 7-8. We commemorate the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution that happened in 1917. History isn't something to be rewritten. Millions of people died in an attempt to realise their own ideas. They are all dead now, and History itself will decide who was right and who was wrong. We aren't to judge anybody, we are just to pray for the peace of their souls.

Your lady’s birthday.