These apples are sold only to men as gifts for their sweethearts

How many big red apples can you hang from a Christmas tree some three meters tall? It does not bend under their weight and remains straight and beautiful? The answer is 600 apples weighing 130 kg. Every such apple is carefully selected at Lviv’s bazaars or contributed by residents who know that the Christmas tree is an invariable element of the feast of the Epiphany at the city’s Palace of Art, marking the end of the Christmas festivities.

This feast was first publicly celebrated in Lviv in 1991. That time enthusiasts decorated a Christmas tree with apples at the Opera House and carried it all the way to the City Hall where the feast of the Epiphany was celebrated, whereupon everyone could pick an apple and pay some money for it. 800 rubles thus collected was transferred to the local Student Brotherhood.

That year Lviv did not have the Palace of Art, but after it was built this feast has been celebrated there for eight years in a row.

“This tradition originates from Husakiv, a village in Mostysk district, Lviv oblast,” says Roman Nakonechny, manager of the Palace of the Arts. “My mother was born there and I remember my grandmother Kateryna preparing for the holiday. Actually, the whole village was. It was so festive, so nice!”

“The idea was conceived by the Prosvita Society in the 1920s (we have studied church records and archives) to raise funds for a village library, church, or perhaps as an amateur performance. The community would decide on the priority, and the tradition continued to be observed even under the Soviets.

“There was a brotherhood of young men under church auspices, young unmarried men who traditionally maintained law and order in the village. They would spend the night on the eve of the Epiphany decorating the Christmas tree, singing carols, visiting village homes, wishing Merry Christmas, and being treated to food and drink. Incidentally, doing this takes certain skills. Try to decorate a fir tree with so many apples and keep it gracefully straight!

“After lunch the next day the Christmas tree would carried through the village to the church. There it received solemn blessings and was then carried to the village club where the festivities would begin. Actually, the village is still celebrating it and all of Husakiv residents are dancing round the apple-clad Christmas tree.”

But why the apples?

“That’s something attributed to Epiphany. Our people treated the Jordan water with utmost respect and observed Lent until the water was sanctified. Lent meant not only restrictions on food. People were not supposed to dance or marry. After the holiday all restrictions would be lifted. The apple in this sense is a symbol of love. Eve tempted Adam with an apple, not a pear.

“The most honored guest receives the Apple. There is also the Apple of Honor, it goes to the highest bidder who is also provided with a special certificate reading that so-and-so has been awarded the Apple of Honor on such- and-such a date, in return for which so-and-so has paid such-and-such a sum.

“And there is the Apple of Temptation. Five pretty girls are selected and a young man can join his sweetheart and get the apple and bite it. After that the rest of the guests are invited to buy apples.

“By the way, girls have no right to buy apples, only their boyfriends can. This might seem a good cause to discuss male chauvinism. Or to heave a sigh of relief, being aware of yourself as a real young charming lady for whose sake men embark on daring ventures. You are presented not with the world, but with an apple shaped like the globe, fresh, juicy, delicious. But if your man doesn’t buy you an apple, you won’t be allowed to dance...”

Such are the rules of the feast of the Epiphany in Lviv and the residents are proud, because no one else practices it anywhere else, so people try to get to the city in time for the holiday. Indeed, there are more impressive and entertaining events where the admittance fee is actually twenty times that of the Lviv Epiphany. But it’s not what all those artists, singers, Galician intellectuals need as they cultivate a select circle of the like-minded. They get together for merrymaking and they enjoy it immensely (funds are raised for creative projects). People come from Kyiv to take part in the festivities. This year the Sich Duet came from the capital specially to sing carols. Also, there are always puppet shows, among them the winner of the Christmas puppet contest (this year it was the puppet theater of School No. 47). Most actors perform on this occasion free of charge. Singing in front of this audience is a matter of honor and great delight. There are no posters or billboards, as every resident of the city if well aware of the occasion. Only five posters are printed by the organizing committee for the annals, so the posterity will know about this interesting and proud tradition.