Although without a resident priest, the Church of the Holy Ascension in Unalaska continued its annual Christmas celebration with carols, spinning stars, and a festive atmosphere. Parishioners, mostly indigenous Unangax̂ people, gathered for a service led by church reader and choir director Julia Dushkin, and the tradition continued for three nights at different parishioners' homes.
Unalaska ’s Church of the Holy Ascension hasn’t had a resident priest for a few months, but that didn’t stop parishioners from organizing their annual Christmas celebration.
For Christmas, the church was adorned with colorful lights, poinsettia plants and candles. Most who attended the service are Unangax̂ — people indigenous to the Aleutian Islands. They sang carols in English, Church Slavonic and the Unangax̂ language, Unangam Tunuu. Canvas paintings of biblical figures and stories, known as icons, fill the church walls. Both Unalaska’s icons and the space that houses them have survived Japanese bombs during World War II and decades of intense Aleutian storms. The church, first constructed in 1826 and rebuilt in 1894, hosts one of the oldest Russian Orthodox communities in Alaska.
CHRISTMAS RUSSIAN ORTHODOX COMMUNITY TRADITION UNALASKA
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