This story is about Russian and West African immigrants and the Christmas traditions they celebrate in this country. DP
By Adam Phillips, New York
Gift giving, music and prayer. These are ways that Christians almost everywhere commemorate Jesus' birth. Still, every Christian immigrant group in America practices those traditions in ways that evoke their cultures of origin. VOA's Adam Phillips visited West African and Russian congregations in New York City to see how they've brought their own spirits to the season.
voanews.com: To most American ears, Russian Orthodox Christmas music may have a certain doleful quality, at least compared to the merrier lilts of the Christmas carols they are used to. But Ana Kouznezoff, who was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1922, says the tone of the music is appropriate. The 40 days leading up to the Christmas Feast are fast days in the Orthodox calendar. Unlike in American culture, neither meat nor revelry is allowed at this time.
"In some ways, the Russian is more the Christmas that belong(s) to God," Ana says. "In America, it's most of all the gifts. Buying, buying, buying. It doesn't feel the way we understand it. For me, the best way to celebrate is to come here to the "church."
The Christmas feast and the ten days of religious celebration which follow are joys that Ana and her fellow believers were denied while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, where religion was suppressed.
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