ETHNOCULTURAL TRADITIONS IN THE INDUSTRY OF UKRAINIAN CHRISTMAS TREE GLASS ORNAMENTS

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the specifics of the ethnocultural traditions of Ukrainians in the field of decorating Christmas trees with glass decorations. The specifics of the celebration of the New Year since the times of Kyivan Rus are outlined, the time of the celebration with Byzantium is delimited. The meaning of the didukh as a primitive figurative structure associated with the ideas of honoring the spirits of ancestors and its embellishment with decorative elements, ribbons, and edible delicacies from the Middle Ages is illustrated. The ideas of decorating “trees” associated with the beginning of the New Year in the lands of Ukraine from the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 14th century to the beginning of the 20th century, when the “Circumcision of the Lord” was celebrated on January 1, are specified. The main idea of the study lies in the connection of the manufactured product with the beginning of the glass-blown production of balls of the gala (iron) type from the 18th century in the domestic craft tradition. The research methodology is based on a set of principles, as well as approaches and methods. First of all, the chronological and reliability principles were used; art history, design and production approaches; ontological, axiological, hermeneutic, historical-genetic, historical-chronological, historical-comparative, cultural-creative, socio-cultural, methods of microhistory, regional studies, typology, iconography and the method of art history analysis. Among the important tasks of the study, attention should be focused on the formation of the domestic industrial art industry of the production of Christmas tree glass decorations, a more precise definition of the circle of famous factories of this segment in Ukraine and a consideration of the range of the specified enterprises of the late 19th – early 21st centuries. Data on the fabrication of products at key production facilities of the specified industry in Ukraine since the independence are provided. The most valuable, iconic works of this group of products, which have acquired the character of classics for the world artistic heritage and had their own ethnocultural traditions in Ukraine, have been identified.