Lviv is hosting Ukraine’s first-ever Christmas Fair that will last for more than a month and will close on Jan. 21, 2010. The organizers are convinced that it will become a center of celebration with interesting events and activities galore.
“Each city is happy as much as its citizens smile,” noted Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovy at the opening ceremony. “We are all expecting Jesus’ birthday as one of the brightest and most spiritual feasts, and we want to best prepare our city for this event. We want to fill the city with the festive, merry, and cheerful spirit. Now Lviv is reviving old Christmas traditions. We are gradually introducing the good old rules which Lviv had back in the 1930s.”
The prolonged festivities involve restaurateurs, merchants, craftsmen, and artists, as well as public, charitable, and religious organizations, which have been trying to create a celebratory atmosphere for the visitors.
Their efforts have produced Christmas tree decorations, mulled wine, delicious tea and coffee, as well as singing, Christmas carols, and various entertainments.
Many wooden fair houses are placed in two locations in downtown Lviv – on Svobody Avenue, near the beautiful 20-meter-tall Christmas tree, which is already decorated but not yet sparkling with holiday lights, and on Rynok Square, near the city ice rink, filled with both children and adults.
