Christmas Together
Run by: Department of Culture
Project map
84 markers on the map · 62 with a recording
- Old Christmas stars, or zvizdy (material provided by Lidiia Solodar, member of the National Union of Folk Art Masters of Ukraine)
- Places where project participants recorded their Christmas videos
Lviv region
Volodymyr Shahala with the Christmas stars and the shopka (a portable Nativity crib) he donated to the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life. 1991.
Christmas star from the village of Mizhhiria (Zakarpattia)
Carol singers in the village of Volove. 1920s–30s. Photo from Vladimir Kuštek’s book “Československý svět v Karpatech”
Christmas star from the town of Volodymyr (Volyn)
Christmas star from Pokuttia (Ivano-Frankivsk region)
A photograph from the 1950s, from Ivan Honchar’s art, history and ethnography album “Ukraine and the Ukrainians”. Pokuttia. Archive of the National Centre of Folk Culture “Ivan Honchar Museum”
Christmas stars by Myroslav Semkiv and Volodymyr Statko (village of Kobylovoloky, Ternopil region)
With Myroslav Semkiv’s star, 1970s. The decoration is modern. Photograph courtesy of Iryna Kohut-Korin
Christmas stars from the town of Berezne (Rivne region)
Carol singers in Berezne, Rivne region. 1918. Archive of the Berezne Museum of Local History
Christmas star from the town of Zdolbuniv (Rivne region)
Carol singers in Zdolbuniv, Rivne region. 26 December 1921. Archive of the Rivne Museum of Local History
Christmas stars from the village of Biliany, Vinnytsia region
Christmas star by Vasyl Kuibida, 1998. Photograph courtesy of Liudmyla Litvinova
Christmas star of Bukovyna (Chernivtsi)
Girls with a Christmas star. Chernivtsi, 1930s.
Christmas star from the village of Kryve Ozero (Mykolaiv Oblast)
Carol singers in Kryve Ozero, Mykolaiv Oblast. 1980s.
Christmas stars in Nataliia Symplikevych’s photographs (village of Khorobychi, Chernihiv region)
Carol singers. Photograph by Nataliia Symplikevych. Early 20th century.
Christmas star of Polissia
Polissia is a historical and geographical region within the Polissian Lowland, in the basins of the Prypiat and the middle Western Bug. In Ukraine it covers the northern parts of the Chernihiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne and Volyn oblasts.
Christmas star of the Kyiv region
Exhibit at the Kyiv City Museum. 1920s–1930s. Private collection of Tymur Oratovskyi
Christmas star from the village of Cherneche (Cherkasy region)
Christmas star by Oleksandr Kernosenko, village of Cherneche, Chyhyryn district, Cherkasy Oblast, 1940s. Reconstruction by Lidiia and Oleksandr Solodar, 2024.
Christmas star from the town of Myrhorod (Poltava region)
Carol singers. Myrhorod, 1950s. From the private collection of Oleksandr Tykhenko
Christmas star in Anatolii Pavlovych’s photograph (Poltava region)
Carol singers. Poltava region, 1908. Photograph by Anatolii Pavlovych. Archive of the Russian Museum of Ethnography
Christmas star in V. Svystunov’s photograph (village of Kovalivka, Poltava region)
Carol singers. Photograph by V. K. Svystunov. Village of Kovalivka, Poltava district, Poltava Oblast, 1900s. Private collection of Oleksandr Tykhenko
Christmas star by Isai Mishchenko (village of Stanova, Sumy region)
Christmas star by Isai Mishchenko, village of Stanova, Trostianets district, Sumy Oblast, 1950s. Reconstruction by Lidiia and Oleksandr Solodar, 2024.
Christmas star by Mariia Voskoboinyk (village of Heniivka, Kharkiv region)
Christmas star by Mariia Voskoboinyk (village of Heniivka, Kharkiv region). Photograph courtesy of Artem Oleksiienko
Christmas star of the Kharkiv region
Carol singers. Kharkiv region, 1900.
Christmas star in Marko Zalizniak’s photograph (village of Serhiivka, Donetsk region)
Carol singers. Photograph by Marko Zalizniak. Village of Serhiivka, Donetsk region. 1905 or 1910–1912.
Christmas stars after Vasyl Babenko’s photograph (Dnipropetrovsk region)
Carol singers. Katerynoslav county, Katerynoslav Governorate, early 20th century. Photograph by Vasyl Babenko
Zaporizhzhia Gymnasium No. 51 of Zaporizhzhia City Council
Uman Gymnasium No. 11 of Uman City Council, Cherkasy Oblast
Poltava General Education School (levels I–III) No. 24 of Poltava City Council, Poltava Oblast
Lviv Oblast, village of Bilychi, Bilychi Gymnasium
Rivne Oblast, Rivne district, village of Horodok · “Namysto” Exemplary Folklore Ensemble of the Horodok House of Culture (director: Tetiana Vasechko)
Lviv Oblast, city of Drohobych, Viacheslav Chornovil Lyceum No. 3
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Kryvyi Rih, Kryvyi Rih Gymnasium No. 116 of Kryvyi Rih City Council
Ternopil Oblast, city of Ternopil, Ternopil General Education School (levels I–III) No. 19
Volyn Oblast, Lutsk district, village of Pidhaitsi, 24 Shkilna Street, Pidhaitsi Lyceum of Pidhaitsi Village Council, Lutsk district, Volyn Oblast
General Education School (levels I–III) of the village of Horodnytsia, Chortkiv district, Ternopil Oblast
THE GOAT RITUAL · Kyiv Oblast, Yahotyn, Yahotyn Lyceum No. 3
Ternopil Oblast, Kremenets, 8 B. Kharchuka Street, Ulas Samchuk Kremenets Academic Lyceum
Zaporizhzhia, “Prohres” Zaporizhzhia Primary School
Chernihiv Oblast, city of Pryluky, Viktor Andriiovych Zatolokin Pryluky Lyceum No. 5 of Pryluky City Council, Chernihiv Oblast
Vinnytsia Oblast, town of Bar, Lyceum No. 2
A MODERN CAROL telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ and of a family reunited after a long separation · Poltava Oblast, town of Karlivka, “Karlivka Lyceum No. 4” hub school of Karlivka City Council
Municipal institution “Solonytsivka Lyceum No. 3” of Solonytsivka Settlement Council
Vinnytsia Oblast, Lityn, Lityn Lyceum No. 2 – general secondary education hub school (levels I–III)
ELEMENTS OF THE VECHORNYTSI (TRADITIONAL WINTER EVENING GATHERINGS) · Nikopol Lyceum No. 5 of Nikopol City Council
The carol “Zoria ziishla” (“The Star Has Risen”), performed by the teaching staff of Pishchatyntsi Gymnasium, Kremenets district, village of Pishchatyntsi · Director: Svitlana Volodymyrivna Atamanchuk
Sumy Oblast, Konotop district, village of Bochechky, Bochechky General Secondary Education Institution (levels I–III)
Lyceum No. 3 of Nova Kakhovka City Council
Poltava Educational Complex (Secondary School – Kindergarten) No. 16 of Poltava City Council, Poltava Oblast
The Goat · Vinnytsia Oblast, town of Haisyn, Haisyn Lyceum No. 7
Municipal institution “Vinnytsia Lyceum No. 12”
Ternopil Oblast, town of Lanivtsi, Lanivtsi General Secondary Education Institution (levels I–III) No. 2
Mykolaiv Oblast, Voznesensk, Voznesensk Lyceum No. 10
Vinnytsia Oblast, village of Serebryntsi, Serebryntsi Lyceum of Vendychany Settlement Council, Mohyliv-Podilskyi district
Poltava Oblast, Poltava, Lyceum No. 6 “Lider”
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, village of Stari Kuty, Stari Kuty Lyceum of Kuty Settlement Council
Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Zaporizhzhia, Zaporizhzhia Gymnasium No. 103 of Zaporizhzhia City Council
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Kryvyi Rih, “Kredo” Kryvyi Rih Lyceum of Kryvyi Rih City Council
Odesa Oblast, Odesa district, village of Korsuntsi, Korsuntsi Gymnasium of Krasnosilka Village Council
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Kryvyi Rih, Kryvyi Rih Lyceum No. 77 of Kryvyi Rih City Council
Vinnytsia Oblast, village of Luka-Meleshkivska, Municipal institution “Luka-Meleshkivska Lyceum of Luka-Meleshkivska Village Council, Vinnytsia Oblast”
Desna Lyceum of Desna Settlement Council, Chernihiv Oblast
Novoselivka Gymnasium of Novoselivka Village Council, Poltava district, Poltava Oblast
Hero of Ukraine Bohdan Solchanyk Staryi Sambir General Secondary Education Hub School (levels I–III) of Staryi Sambir City Council, Sambir district, Lviv Oblast
Ternopil Educational Complex “General Education School (levels I–III) – Lesia Ukrainka Medical Lyceum No. 25”
Sumy Oblast, town of Romny, Tetiana Markus Romny Lyceum No. 4
Bahacheve Gymnasium No. 2, general secondary education hub school of Bahacheve City Council, Cherkasy Oblast
Pohribevska Gymnasium of Vasylkiv City Council, Kyiv Oblast
Municipal institution Lyceum “New Ukrainian School” of Kropyvnytskyi City Council
Solone Lyceum, general secondary education institution of Solone Settlement Council, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Velyka Dymerka Lyceum of Velyka Dymerka Settlement Council, Brovary district, Kyiv Oblast
Hero of Ukraine Oleksandr Bilash Hradyzk Lyceum of Hradyzk Settlement Council, Kremenchuk district, Poltava Oblast
Chernihiv Oblast, settlement of Varva, municipal general secondary education institution (levels I–III) “Varva Lyceum No. 1”
Municipal institution “Taras Shevchenko Lyceum of Kropyvnytskyi City Council”
Municipal institution “Bohodukhiv Lyceum No. 2” of Bohodukhiv City Council, Bohodukhiv district, Kharkiv Oblast
Anatolii Matviienko Bershad Lyceum No. 1 · Bershad, Haisyn district, Vinnytsia Oblast
Lyceum No. 240 “Sotsium”, Obolon district, Kyiv
Melitopol Gymnasium No. 23 of Melitopol City Council
Zhytomyr Oblast, Yemilchyne community, Seredy Lyceum of Yemilchyne Settlement Council
Zhytomyr Oblast, Stanyshivka community, Kodnia Lyceum
Maksymivka Lyceum of Mykhailo-Lukashove Village Council
“Avanhard Lyceum” general secondary education institution of Avanhard Settlement Council
“Prylymanske Lyceum” general secondary education institution of Avanhard Settlement Council
Poltava Lyceum No. 10
Lyceum No. 2 of Trostianets City Council
“Horodok Lyceum” hub school of Horodok Village Council, Rivne district, Rivne Oblast
Yurii Drohobych Lyceum No. 16 · Drohobych City Council, Lviv Oblast
Varash Lyceum No. 6 of Varash City Council
The “Christmas Together / Natale Insieme” project
An invitation to join the “Christmas Together / Natale Insieme” project from the project curator, Olha Vakulich
The project aims to revive, pass on and preserve Christmas traditions, combining learning, research and creativity to safeguard Ukrainian identity in a globalised world.
Around 1,000 participants joined the project, namely:
- educational institutions,
- houses of culture,
- pupils and teachers, artists and associations.
As part of the project, four themed workshops were held with folk artisans, ethnomusicologists, and Ukrainian and Italian scholars and researchers of tradition.
The artisans and experts introduced the festivities and musical traditions of Ukrainians and Italians and taught participants to make Christmas decorations, and together everyone learned koliadky (traditional Ukrainian Christmas carols), shchedrivky (New Year well-wishing songs) and the vertep (the folk Nativity play) from different corners of Ukraine and Italy.
The children threw themselves into the practical work, asked questions and showed keen interest.
Participants received valuable thematic knowledge that is not easily accessible to the general public.
This workshop format has considerable cultural and educational value and is well worth introducing in schools in the run-up to Christmas.
Workshop recordings
Making the pavuk (the traditional straw “spider”); koliadky singing
Iryna Kukhar is a folk art master of decorative weaving from plant materials. Since 2001 she has regularly taken part in national, regional and city exhibitions of folk craftspeople at folklore festivals and ethnographic celebrations. She runs workshops in many Ukrainian cities and in schools, lyceums, libraries and orphanages in Rivne. She represents the Rivne region and the city of Rivne at festivals and competitions on behalf of the Rivne Regional Centre of Folk Art. Her works are held in private collections in Ukraine.
Yurii Rybak – PhD in Art Studies, Associate Professor, Head of the Research Laboratory of Musical Ethnology and Associate Professor of the Department of Musical Folklore Studies at the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy (Lviv); research fellow at the State Scientific Centre for the Protection of Cultural Heritage from Technogenic Catastrophes (Kyiv). Author of numerous academic articles, reviews and surveys in ethnomusicological publications in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, and of curricula and teaching materials in folklore studies for students. Compiler of folklore collections and editor of musical folklore publications. Has taken part in many national and international academic conferences.
For over 25 years he has been carrying out fieldwork across the western Ukrainian lands: he has led some 40 expeditions to more than 200 localities and collected around 10,000 pieces of folk music together with the accompanying ethnographic information. Research interests: chiefly ritual songs and the tradition of itinerant performers (lirnyky, hurdy-gurdy players, and accordionists) of Western Polissia.
Making pompoms; koliadky and shchedrivky
Marharyta Skazhenyk – PhD in Art Studies, Associate Professor, senior research fellow at the Research Laboratory of Ethnomusicology of the P. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, Associate Professor of the Department of Musical Art at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts; traditional singer and leader of the folk group “Volodar” (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Domenico Di Virgilio – Italian ethnomusicologist and researcher of central Italy and northern India. Author of numerous studies on the traditions of the Abruzzo region and founder of an ethnolinguistic music archive devoted to seeking out and documenting the oral cultural traditions of Abruzzo.
Olha Vakulich – traditional singer, researcher of Ukrainian and Italian traditions, member of the Italian-Ukrainian folk duo “Ad’davère”
At the workshop, participants learned about the overall structure of the winter song genres and learned one Ukrainian and one Italian carol.
Staging the living vertep
Anastasiia Kolodiuk – First Deputy Director General of the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life of Ukraine, folklorist, researcher of the Ukrainian musical tradition, traditional singer, co-founder and member of the groups “Korolivna” and “KoKoMelanzh”.
Ivan Strutynskyi, ethnographer, doctoral candidate at the Department of Cultural Studies of the Faculty of Humanities, West University of Timișoara (Romania), author of the folklore and local history projects “Podorozh za pisniamy” (“A Journey in Search of Songs”) and “Drum spre cântece”.
Participants learned about the Ukrainian vertep traditions and about all the winter feasts of Prykarpattia, from the Presentation of the Virgin to Ardan (the local name for Jordan, the feast of the Theophany).
Making the stars; koliadky and shchedrivky
Mykhailo Shvets, born in 1950, is a master star-maker who has been making Christmas stars for about 20 years. His star designs are recreated from photographs, postcards, articles, museum pieces and people’s recollections. The stars range from more than 2 metres across to quite small ones, up to 20 cm in diameter. His body of work includes some 50 different designs, as well as stars of his own invention.
Lidiia Solodar – member of the National Union of Folk Art Masters of Ukraine and a teacher of the highest category. She creates etched pysanky (decorated Easter eggs) and interior and monumental vytynanky (paper cut-outs), and for 10 years has been researching traditional Ukrainian Christmas stars. She passes her knowledge in these fields on to her students, children and adults alike.
35 photos
Besides taking part in the workshops, everyone had the chance to join in the greetings by choosing, from Ukraine’s folklore archives (“Polyphony”, “Digital Archive of the Folklore of Slobozhanshchyna and the Kharkiv Region”), a piece of calendar and ritual material from their own region, then learning it and performing it on video.
In all, more than 60 video entries were received, presenting koliadky, shchedrivky, elements of the koza (goat) procession, vertep performances, instrumental traditions, carols for soldiers and modern interpretations.
The videos were recorded in schools, bomb shelters, museums, houses of culture and studios.
The project showed the children’s great creative potential, their resilience and their readiness to preserve and promote traditions even in today’s circumstances.
64 photos
Closing event
On 28 December 2025 the closing Christmas event of the “Christmas Together / Natale Insieme” project took place in Pescara (Abruzzo, Italy), organised by the Department of Culture of the National Congress of Ukrainian Associations in Italy (CNAUI) and the “Gioia” Association, with the project coordinator Olha Vakulich.
In the afternoon, the Church of the Holy Communion hosted the Christmas performance “The Christmas Star Calls Us to Bethlehem” (“La stella chiama a Betlemme”), with the Ukrainian community, children and young people, and the local cultural associations “Compagnia Tradizioni Teatine” of Torrevecchia Teatina and “Camminando Insieme” of Chieti, who together presented the Christmas traditions of Ukrainians and Italians.
Afterwards the participants made their way to the centre of Pescara, where they held a festive procession with stars, carol singers and a living Nativity scene (the Holy Family), and sang Ukrainian and Italian carols at the Christmas market.
The event brought the Ukrainian and Italian communities together and helped promote the Christmas traditions of the two countries and the cultural exchange between them.
Our thanks go to the clergy and to all the participants for their support and active involvement.
8 photos
Heartfelt thanks to the organisers and participants of the “Christmas Together / Natale Insieme 2025” project!
Your contribution, inspiration and dedication helped create a true festive atmosphere and pass on the song traditions of the Ukrainian people! Thanks to you, this project became special and unforgettable! We do not just celebrate: we also teach, research and create, across borders and distances, to give new life to Christmas traditions, hand them on to the new generation and preserve what is Ukrainian in this globalised world! This is not goodbye but “see you soon” in our next projects!
I invite you to join this year’s Christmas Together by working together to prepare and write a project for an international grant, so that this vitally important project can be scaled up!
Project news
Christmas Workshops from the “Christmas Together” Project
We invite children, young people and families to take part in the creative project “Christmas Together”, where everyone will be able to make their own Christmas decorations, learn…
