Lutsk to Welcome Christmas With Three Different Festivals

Western Ukrainian Lutsk will celebrate Christmas Holidays with a number of events: vertep, traditional Christmas singing, and Christmas in Lutsk celebrations.

Lutsk’s Palace of Culture will host the 13^th city festival of Christmas vertep puppet theatre. The festival is held annually to support the tradition of the puppet theatre, and inspire beginning theatre troupes. All the performances of the day will be evaluated by the jury in four categories: children troupes under 6, children troupes under 18, participants over 18, and family troupes.

The second part of the celebrations will consist of religious confessions’ choir singing, also featuring choirs of local educational institutions, civil organizations, families, and even local enterprises. The participants will sing traditional Christmas koliadky and shchedrivky, and Orthodox choir compositions.

The third piece of the Lutsk Christmas mosaic will be composed of the ethnic festival, scheduled for January 14-15. The event will dazzle the visitors with songs, theatre performances, exhibitions, contests, vechornytsi with music and dancing, and tasting traditional food and honey drinks. Also, from noon till 6 p.m. local administration promises to organize Christmas fairs at the Theatre Square.

Vertep is a kind of puppet theater that usually presents religious plots. Historians claim it first appeared in Ukraine at the beginning of the 17th century in the student circuit. Initially, vertep existed in religious and secular versions, which later morphed into drama and comedy respectively. The puppet theater was popular in the rural areas, brought there by religious leaders and students.

When: January 12, 14-15, 2012, at noon

Where: PalatsKultury (Palace of Culture) - Theatre Square, Lutsk