Explore: Ukrainian Christmas and new year, gingerbread houses

The Ukrainian Studies Society is hosting a Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner Saturday evening.

The Svyatay Vechir or Holy Night celebration features food and music beginning at 6 p.m. at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 3277 Douglas St.

The celebration of Christmas in Ukraine is based on the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. This year, Christmas falls on Jan. 7.

Many families in the Ukraine celebrate Christmas Eve with a meat-free meal of 12 courses meant to symbolize the 12 disciples of Jesus.

Dishes include a sweet-grain pudding known as kutia, beetroot soup called borsch, a braided bread known as kolach, as well as pidpenky, which are mushrooms in gravy and fish.

Saturday’s Holy Night celebration will have a traditional meatless buffet dinner of 12 dishes and carolling by the Luna Ensemble.

Tickets must be bought in advance. To purchase or reserve your ticket, call the Ukrainian Cultural Centre at 250-475-2585. Tickets are $45 for adults, $20 for students and $8 for children ages four to six.

Next weekend, celebrate Ukrainian new year with Victoria’s Veselka Dancers.

The dancers will ring in the new year with a Malanka Celebration on Friday, Jan. 11, at the cultural centre, featuring food, song and lots of dancing.

The celebration begins with cocktails at 6 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner at 7 p.m., then an energetic performance by the dancers at 8:30 p.m.

At 9 p.m., dancing begins, with music by Victoria’s European brass band Bucan Bucan. Tickets are $50 per person for the dinner and dance, and $20 for just the dance.

Proceeds from the event go to support the dancers’ training in Ukraine this summer. For more information, contact Veselka at [email protected] or by phone at 250-475-1174.

Gingerbread event raises funds for Habitat project

There’s still plenty of time to check out the creativity of professional and amateur bakers on display in the 10th annual Gingerbread Showcase.

The free event, which raises money for Habitat for Humanity Victoria, runs until Sunday at the Parkside Hotel and Spa, 810 Humboldt St.

Doors open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

This year’s theme is “there’s no place like home” and creations are judged based on their interpretation of that theme as well as skill and technique, structural integrity, overall concept and design, first impressions and the use of gingerbread.

Each creation must stand at least 45 centimetres tall and be made of edible materials, with the exception of a 61-centimetre square base.

Members of the public can vote for their favorite creations in the People’s Choice Award category by donating to Habitat Victoria, a registered charity that builds affordable housing for working families.

The Gingerbread Showcase, which is presented by the Victoria Real Estate Board, drew more than 25,000 visitors last year and raised $51,000 for Habitat Victoria.

The charity said any money raised this year will support its current project in Central Saanich.

For more information, go to habitatvictoria.com.

Festival of Trees at Bay Centre until Monday

The 27th annual Festival of Trees in support of the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation continues until Monday at the Bay Centre.

This annual event has become a beloved community Christmas tradition and transforms the mall into a forest of wildly and often irreverently decorated trees.

The showcase features hundreds of trees decorated by local businesses and organizations along the walkways at every level of the mall.

This year, Outlook Project Management won the judged competition during the kickoff event in early December, with Island Blue Print coming in second and CFB Esquimalt winning third prize.

The People’s Choice award will go to the tree that garners the most community votes by Jan. 7.

Anyone can have their say in which tree wins by voting for a favourite along with giving a donation. All proceeds go to the urgent health care needs of kids in B.C.

To donate and vote, go to guest services at the Bay Centre, or you can go online at bcchf.ca/events/event-calendar/festival-of-trees/victoria.

There is also a text option. By texting TREE followed by your favourite tree’s number (TREE095) to 45678, you can donate $5, $10, $20, or $25. You can also text TREE to make a general donation to Festival of Trees.

The donation amount is applied directly to your phone bill.