Christmas in Ukraine: Contemporary Art & Traditions

28.12.2025

This year, as the world once again searches for warmth, stability, and meaning, we at ZOLI gallery chose to speak about Christmas and the New Year through the language of art.

“The Night Before Christmas” / “The Carolers” / “Dawn” / “The Spirit of Christmas” / “Snowstorm” / “A Christmas Story”

On our Christmas paintings, the spirit of Christmas can truly be felt.This holiday reminds us that even in the darkest times, light is born - reflected in the rich, vibrant colors on the canvas.Little carolers carry the Christmas star, a symbol of the birth of Christ. They run through snow-covered streets, bringing light and joy into every home.

Artists: Yurii and Khrystyna Todoruk

Christmas as a Language of Art.

Not as decoration or seasonal aesthetics, but as memory, tradition, and an inner ritual.

Ukrainian Christmas is not just a date on the calendar.

It is a system of symbols passed down from generation to generation - through objects, songs, light, food, and silence.

These are the elements we discovered in the works of contemporary Ukrainian artists - expressed in very different ways, yet united by the same sincerity.

Miniature “Christmas Eve”

In this work, I wanted to bring together at least a part of our Ukrainian traditions for such an important holiday as Christmas - a celebration that brings families together.

Yuliia Herasymenko, miniature artist

Didukh

The Presence of Ancestors

In Ukrainian tradition, the didukh is not merely a sheaf of wheat. It is a sign of memory, gratitude, and connection to those who came before us. Placed in the home, it stands as a silent witness to a family’s history.
In the works of contemporary artists, the didukh appears as an image of roots, resilience, and the land itself. Sometimes it is depicted literally; other times it emerges abstractly - as a vertical form, a texture, a rhythm. It is a symbol that needs no explanation. It is felt.

“The Goat with the Didukh” / “The Goat with Gifts” / “Angel with the Moon” / “Star” / “In Red Boots” / “Malanka”

Iryna Niavchuk

The Christmas Table

Kutia, Varenyky, Uzvar

Ukrainian Christmas is impossible to imagine without a shared table. Kutia, varenyky, and uzvar are not merely dishes - they are images of abundance, care, and home.
The Christmas table is a space of gathering. It is where family comes together, where the first conversations after a long journey take place, and where a place is kept for those who cannot be physically present, yet remain alive in memory.
Paintings in which food appears carry a particular warmth in this context. They speak of embodied memory - of taste, scent, and touch that linger longer than words. Of a home one longs to return to.

* Images are protected by copyright law. Any commercial use is prohibited.

In many of my works, you will find a kind of surreal storytelling, filled with positive imagery, vivid colors, and unexpected details. Through them, I express my personal vision of the rich and layered world around us.

Anna Shabalova

Vertep and Malanka

The Theatre of Living Tradition

Vertep and Malanka are two sides of the Christmas cycle, where the sacred and the everyday exist side by side. Vertep weaves the story of the birth of light together with humor and recognizable scenes from daily life, presenting the world as a multi-layered stage filled with different roles and meanings.
Malanka, in contrast, allows this world to momentarily turn upside down. Through masks, irony, and carnival chaos, it releases the tension and fears accumulated over the year, creating space for renewal, laughter, and a return to life with a lighter heart.
It is precisely to these traditions that contemporary artists turn today, reinterpreting them through the language of the present - with new images, styles, and contexts - while preserving their deeper sense of togetherness and living culture.

Series: “Malanka. Everyone Wears Their Own Mask”

When I was creating the series ‘Malanka. Everyone Wears Their Own Mask,’ a quote by Oscar Wilde kept returning to my mind: ‘Give a man a mask, and he will tell you the truth.’
This series is about people.

Mariana Mural

Christmas and Contemporaneity

How Tradition Enters the Language of Today

This section explores how Christmas traditions live on within contemporary visual language and move beyond familiar forms. Here, Christmas appears not as a fixed ritual, but as a living culture - one that can adapt to urban environments, subcultures, new aesthetics, and even visions of the future.
Contemporary artists work with traditional symbols boldly and freely - through graffiti, irony, imagination, and futuristic imagery. Rather than reproducing Christmas literally, they reinterpret it while preserving what matters most: ideas of light, hope, togetherness, love, and the continuity of memory.
These works show that tradition has no single form. It can exist across different styles, scales, and times - remaining recognizable and meaningful regardless of context.

“Saint Nicholas. Big Christmas Boss” / “The Christmas Star. New Life” / “The Christmas Spider. Strength in Unity” / “Under the Mistletoe”

In this series, I reinterpret Christmas imagery through my character - the Dnipro Frog - combining Ukrainian symbols with the visual language of contemporary graffiti. For me, Christmas is about light, hope, new life, and faith that good deeds truly matter.
The Christmas star, the spider, the mistletoe, Saint Nicholas - these are not merely traditional symbols, but signs of unity, love, family, and victory, which today resonate with particular depth. I consciously bring together the sacred and irony, tenderness and strength, tradition and contemporary subcultures, showing that Christmas transforms - yet never loses its meaning.
The most valuable gift for me is victory, mutual support, and the feeling of home, where every thread matters and love and unity remain the core values.

Liza Zaichenko

“A Thousand Years Later”

“A Thousand Years Later” is my visualization of a future in which our people have not only endured all the challenges of the present but have also achieved comprehensive development and ventured beyond Earth to explore distant worlds.
I imagine that a thousand years from now, our descendants will celebrate Christmas on their own lunar base - not as an escape from home, but as a continuation of its presence in a place previously unimaginable.
This work is about the continuity of culture, memory, and identity - aspects that remain with us regardless of distance or the scale of time - as well as a belief in a happy, hopeful future.

Natalia Prokhorenko

A Touch of Holiday Irony

A Shared Voice

Let’s be honest: in Ukraine, no winter holiday - neither Christmas nor New Year - passes without the classic caviar sandwich. It has practically become a cultural symbol of its own.
This section features works that explore another side of the holidays - the revelry, excess, laughter, and that quiet moment that follows. The early mornings when the city is still asleep, but the celebration has already left its traces.
I did wonder whether it was appropriate to include these works in a Christmas selection. And I decided - yes! Holidays in Ukraine are not only about the sacred; they are also about joy, humor, and a little self-irony.
So, at the end of our Christmas story, there it is - the caviar sandwich. Alongside it: a cat, a bottle of champagne, and the feeling that “the holidays have begun.”
These pieces simply capture life as it is.

“Christmas Associations”

You don’t have to eat red caviar only during the holidays, but most Ukrainians will recognize these sandwiches as part of New Year’s celebrations. Everyone has their own tradition, but they carry a piece of the holiday’s emotion.

Vlada Dumanetska

“The Christmas Cat and the New Year’s Table”

This painting is done on a vinyl record.That moment when the whole family gathers for Christmas, yet no one eats or drinks until everyone is together - even the cat understands it.

Oleh Memozavisim