First Study of Traditions in Ukraine

Zagoriy Foundation presented a study on traditions in Ukraine conducted together with the Center for Social and Market Research “SOCIS.” The 3,200 respondents represented eight historical regions of Ukraine: Siveria and Sloboda Ukraine, Podolia, Dnipro Region, the Black Sea Region, Zaporizhzhia, the Carpathians Region, Volhynia and Western Polissia, and the city of Kyiv.

This was the first such study in Ukraine conducted for the Vytoky project. It considered Ukrainians’ knowledge of holidays, continuity and prevalence of traditions, meaning and spread of national clothing, jewelry, dishes, and symbols, as well as practices for reproducing traditions in families and communities.

Today, Ukrainian traditions rely on the family but are supplemented by school, the media, and the Internet precisely where the family channel of traditions’ transmission and reproduction is weaker, i.e., the south/east of Ukraine. It is also there that, unlike western regions, post-Soviet holidays remain important for the surveyed Ukrainians, i.e., Women’s Day, New Year, and the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.

Ritual behavior is preserved even without faith. Christmas and Easter are the most revered holidays. The wake is the most common reproducible religious rite, while baptism and wedding are almost universal ones.

While new ritual practices form, not all of them turn into customs. The most stable ones are those involving emotional depth, a simple ritual, or a visible symbol, as well as those related to national memory. Vyshyvanka Day is the most recognizable modern tradition, and the Minute of Silence is the one that is most observed.

The Carpathians Region and Kyiv are models’ multipliers while Siveria/Sloboda Ukraine, the Black Sea Region, and Zaporizhzhia are growth zones, where it is worth investing in school and public formats, cuisine, crafts, and amulets.

Practical conclusion: Traditions take root better where there is a simple understandable ritual (like wearing an embroidered shirt and stopping for a minute of silence) or a strong empathetic “hook” (mother/father, memory, or amulet).