Author ORCID Identifier
Abstract
The article examines transformations of lived religion in Ukrainian society in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War, drawing on contemporary graffiti and Nativity scenes as its primary material. The study aims to identify the ways in which Christian symbolism is actualized, recontextualized, and semantically reinterpreted under the impact of the immediate experience of war. The methodological framework is based on an interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion, combining the concept of lived religion with iconographic and iconological analysis, as well as hermeneutic, semiotic, contextual, and comparative methods. The study analyzes representations of selected Christian figures and narratives in graffiti, including the Virgin Mary, the Protection of the Mother of God (Pokrova), and the biblical story of David and Goliath, as well as transformations of the traditional Nativity composition in wartime Nativity scenes. The findings demonstrate that graffiti actualizes sacred images through their recontextualization in public space and iconographic transformations, whereas Nativity scenes incorporate contemporary wartime experience into a traditional form of vernacular religiosity. A common tendency is identified toward combining traditional Christian meanings with motifs of protection, struggle, loss, forced displacement, memory, solidarity, and hope. The study argues that lived religion in wartime functions as a dynamic mechanism for interpreting collective experience, through which religious tradition is not merely preserved but creatively reinterpreted in response to contemporary historical circumstances.
Recommended Citation
Chikarkova, Mariia
(2026)
"Transformation of Lived Vernacular Religiosity during the Russo-Ukrainian War: The Symbolism of Ukrainian Graffiti and Nativity Scenes,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 46
:
Iss.
9
, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2229.2917
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol46/iss9/3