Ukraine’s Main Christmas Tree in the Fight Against Darkness

 Photo by Lyubov Golubyatnikova on Kyiv City State Administration licensed under CC BY 4.0.

It is the eve of St Nicholas day in Kyiv. The Sofia square is dark except the spotlights lighting up the facade of the nearby Saint Sophia Cathedral. By the foot of the dark tree towering up towards the black night sky stands Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko in front of a crowd of onlookers. On the count of three, the tree lights circling up the 16 meter tall New Year’s tree light up. In his speech, the Mayor of Kyiv states that this tree will bring hope because even during wartime the people of Ukraine still deserve the feeling of joy and holiday festivities. After Mayor Vitali Klitschko’s speech, people gather around to take pictures with and of the tree as well as the Mayor while enjoying the festive atmosphere. The post of the lighting of the New Year’s tree on Mayor Vitali Klitschko’s Instagram has many comments praising the New Year’s tree and wishing everyone good and safe holidays. One user expresses their happiness to see happy people in their hometown, while another hopes for Ukraine’s victory against darkness. With this festive scene in mind, the Russia Ukraine conflict feels far away. However, a mere week before lighting the tree, over 600 000 people in Kyiv were left without power after a Russian attack on Ukraine’s power grid. This is one of many attacks Russia has carried out on Ukraine’s power grid during the winter of 2025. And only days after Russia launched a drone attack on Kyiv, killing at least 3 people. 

Eleonora Narvselius, Ukrainian senior lecturer and associate professor at the division of Ethnology at Lund University, has visited the country regularly since the war. “The question that pops up immediately is probably what are they doing? Why do they have a Christmas tree? It’s a target. It takes a lot of energy in times of blackouts. Why is it done?” Narvselius mentions during an interview.

However, according to her, when viewed in the context of Ukraine’s overall electricity shortages, the energy demands of the country’s main Christmas tree almost fades into nothingness. “It’s peanuts for a big city. They have enough electricity to do it.” Eleonora Narvselius reasons that there might have been an electricity bargain for this New Year’s tree as there was a decision to decrease other lights in the city such as advertisements, entertainment lights and park lighting. “When it comes to Christmas or traditions, you would not imagine being without a Christmas tree. You are absolutely right that this is a symbolic issue, not to show that because of war we must all just die mentally and physically. The tree is there and people are happy to have it.” The lecturer further mentions how the main Christmas tree of Kyiv is an interesting symbol in the Ukrainian context not only in connection to Christian traditions, but also because of its involvement in a gaffe for the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. In 2010 Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych held a speech to urge people who demonstrated against his tax reforms to go home during the holidays. “He said it’s celebration time go home and take your yolka . But he said it in Russian,” Eleonora Narvselius explains. Instead of using the Ukrainian term for Christmas tree, he used the Russian word yolka. Furthermore, instead of convincing the protesters to go home, Yanukovych further provoked the protesters who started criticizing him for not knowing Ukrainian despite being the president of Ukraine. “So people of course started to use it on social media, mocking him,” Eleonora Narvselius says.

 In 2014, during Revolution of Dignity, the main Christmas tree of Ukraine resurfaced as a symbol for the protesters, although 4 years had passed since the yolka-gaffe. “So instead of having Christmas decorations, they [the protesters] hung political advertisements,” Eleonora Narvselius says. “So this yolka was turned into a protest symbol expressing that we will not go home and we will not eat our Russian salads, we will stay here with this yolka and use the opportunity to say that we are here.” The protesters used the scaffolding around the New Year’s tree that was under construction and covered it with Ukrainian flags and political placards. 

The main Christmas tree of Ukraine has held symbolic value both as a festive instalment but also as a means to express Ukraine’s relation to Russia. In 2021 the Main Christmas Tree of Ukraine was 31 meters decorated with 20 000 ornaments and surrounded by a tent of lights measuring 60 meters in diameter. Despite the scene bustling with lights, people and festive spirits, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned the Russian threat in his speech at the lighting ceremony and emphasised how Ukraine was not afraid and did not want to join the Russian Empire.

The tree erected in 2022, the year when Russia invaded Ukraine, was named the tree of invincibility and took on the blue and yellow colours of the Ukraine flag. The tree was also decorated with white doves, with the Emblem of Ukraine as a star on top of the tree. 

Eleonora Narvselius explains this symbolic naming and decoration of the New Year’s tree in 2022 as a way for Ukraine to once again take their stand against Russia. “All means are good when it comes to communicating important messages in times of war. And of course, war comes with very sharp demands and requirements of whose side you take.”

Still the 2022 instalment of the New Year’s tree was met with criticism in the form of a petition to not erect the tree due to financial, security and energy concerns. Nevertheless, after ensuring that the tree would be founded by patrons and powered with a generator the tree was still installed, motivated by a written comment from the head of the Kyiv City Council Commission Victoria Mukha: “However, I believe that the rejection of one of the main symbols of the celebration of Christmas and New Year will be an incorrect signal. After all, we all believe that good will overcome evil, the light will overcome darkness.“ The Main Christmas Tree of Ukraine in 2022 was 12 meters tall instead of the previous 31 meters with no Christmas fares or activities to accompany the tree that year in compliance with martial law.

In 2025 the event of the lighting of the New Year’s tree had a similar festive spirit to that of 2021 even featuring a small Christmas fare which was avoided during the previous years. Eleonora Narvselius can not see any particular reason why the celebrations seem bigger this year. “Maybe people wanted to have something extraordinary this time. Using the annexation of Crimea as a starting point, it’s already been 10 years and people of course are tired. They want a mental boost, and every opportunity for celebration is of course welcome. It’s also a political point that we are celebrating despite everything.” As people walk home from Sophia Square on the eve of St Nicholas day, the Main Christmas tree of Ukraine still lights up the December night, a symbol of Ukraine’s fight against darkness.