THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JEWELLERY IN UKRAINIAN CULTURE: FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MILITARY REALITIES OF TODAY

Abstract

The aim of the article is to describe the significance of jewelry in Ukrainian culture at various stages of human development. The research focuses on the study of the semantics of the elements of human body decoration and clothing, their features and functional differences over the centuries. Attention is focused on the fact that Ukrainian jewelry is a special and very ancient type of decorative and applied art. His images, convenient utilitarian forms and dynamic motifs of the ornament contain symbols of nature, historical motifs, peculiarities of everyday life and worldview of the Ukrainian people. The original decorations were body tattoos and various amulets. The art of body decoration was known already in ancient times. The history of jewelry originates from the sources of human history. The need to decorate the body is clearly expressed in primitive peoples, even more than the need for clothes. Since ancient times, decorations performed other important tasks in parallel with the aesthetic function. First: they were a charm, an amulet, a talisman. Secondly: they fastened, fixed clothes, shoes, belts, decorated hair. Each era created its own jewelry not only from the point of view of style, but also from the point of view of material, technique and method of processing. The art of the most ancient times incorporates various functions: ritual-magical, practicalcognitive, symbolic-communicative. Peculiarities of ancient culture are syncretism, the absence of a clear boundary between the artistic and life-practical spheres of human activity. Syncretism is also expressed in the absence of a clear genre-species structure. In the study, an attempt was made to analyze the importance of jewelry in the life of modern Ukrainians, to trace the change in priorities of Ukrainians in peacetime and wartime.