Literally “grandfather” or “forefather spirit”, the didukh is a sheaf of grain brought into Ukrainian houses at Christmas Eve to symbolize the unity of the family: the dead, the living and those to come. It is a remnant of pagan beliefs that the spirits of the ancestors guarded the fields in the summer and entered the house in the winter when the didukh was brought in. Made of the best grain of the harvest the sheaf was often decorated with flowers or ribbons or tied around the middle with an embroidered cloth called a rushnyk. Once inside, the didukh (perhaps about 4’ in height) was given a place of honour near the icons. It remained in the home until the eve of Epiphany when it was taken out and burnt and its ashes scattered over the fields or orchard to induce fertility in the coming year and free the spirits within.