In 2023, after the church calendar reform implemented by the OCU, the celebration of Christmas was moved to December 25. However, the church did not force believers to change their preferences, giving them an opportunity to decide whether they will celebrate on January 7 or on December 25.
KANTAR sociologists asked Ukrainians if they plan to celebrate Christmas, and when.
More than 60% of respondents answered affirmatively to the question whether they plan to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Note that before the full-scale invasion, only 18% intended to celebrate the Nativity of Christ on December 25, and a quarter wanted to celebrate Christmas twice, on December 25 and January 7.
“When it comes to the celebration of Christmas, December 25 is gradually becoming more and more legitimized in public consciousness and supplants January 7,” commented Svitlana Khobta, an expert with Kantar Ukraine.
The majority of Ukrainians (70%) will buy gifts for the New Year, and 41% – for Christmas.
At the end of 2023, more than half of the respondents believe that the coming year will be better than the previous one. Compared to last year, the share of those who expect the situation to worsen has decreased (23% against 31% last year) and the number of respondents with a neutral attitude has increased — a quarter of respondents expect that the coming year will be the same as this year (25% against 15% last year).
