Holodomor Memorial

Holodomor Memorial Day or Holodomor Remembrance Day (Ukrainian: День пам'яті жертв голодоморів, romanized: Den pamiati zhertv holodomoriv, lit. 'Day of memory for victims of the holodomors') is an annual commemoration of the victims of the Holodomor, the 1932–33 man-made famine that killed millions in Ukraine, falling on the fourth Saturday of November. The day is also an official annual commemoration in Canada, and observed by Ukrainian diaspora communities in other countries. Traditionally, on this day Ukrainians attend memorial services and put up symbolic vessels of grain and light candles in memory of the victims of the Holodomor and other deadly famines in Ukraine. Ceremonies at the Candle of Memory monument at the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide have been attended by Ukrainian and foreign national leaders, diplomats, representatives of governing bodies, international organizations, and faith communities, and witnesses of the Holodomor. Before 2009, ceremonies took place at the Holodomor monument in the square in front of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. Commemorations include a national minute of silence at 16:00, followed by the lighting of the candle. Participants set candles at memorials, or place them in their window at home. The name in plural, with "holodomors", is not universally accepted, as it can be perceived to consider the Holodomor of 1932–33, which is recognized as a genocide in Ukraine and several other states, as equivalent to the famines of the 1920s and 1940s, which are not.