Verkhovna Rada committee approves Thanksgiving celebration

The Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of the Verkhovna Rada has approved the initiative to celebrate Thanksgiving Day in Ukraine on the last Sunday of September, reports "Detector Media". This day will not be designated as a holiday, which means that it will not require an additional budget allocation for the holiday.

According to the initiative, the government will develop a comprehensive plan of events to celebrate Thanksgiving Day at the state level with the involvement of representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and religious organisations and approve it within three months.

According to the chairman of the committee, Nikita Poturaev, this project "has a unifying goal concerning all believers, regardless of religious denominations" and also shows that "freedom of conscience is one of the cornerstones of Ukrainian statehood".

Ukrainian MP Volodymyr Viatrovych from Eurosolidarity, who abstained from voting, said that those religious holidays that are part of the Ukrainian tradition and "deeply rooted" in the culture of the Ukrainian people should be celebrated in Ukraine at the state level.

As reported, two bills on the establishment of Thanksgiving Day in Ukraine have already been submitted to the Rada. On 7 August 2023, the Verkhovna Rada registered bill 9574, authored by Georgiy Mazurashu, on the introduction of a new holiday "Thanksgiving Day", which proposes to make 22 October a day off. In October, bill 10152, authored by Viktor Mialyk, was introduced, where Thanksgiving Day was proposed to be set for the last Sunday of September.