The motanka doll is a female figure, made of cloth, in a variety of designs. Unlike ordinary toy dolls, it doesn't have facial features, and is said to be an amulet. Like other traditional Ukrainian folk designs, it has grown in popularity as the aggression against the country has increased.

Hanna's motanka dolls

When my family and I arrived in the UK in 2022, everything seemed unfamiliar – the streets, the language, even the air. It was hard for us to start a new life, adapt to society and make new friends. The only thing I could do here as well as at home was embroidery. Creating with my hands has always brought me peace. I could immerse myself in my thoughts and think about plans for the future.

I have always liked handicrafts. As a child, I embroidered different pictures, knitted small items of clothing, made decorative items for the home. I liked the process of creation itself, the feeling of how something slowly takes shape and colour.

Soon, our community came up with the idea of ​​​​ organising events for our British friends, where we could talk more about our culture and traditions. I also wanted to share a piece of my home with our new community, tell where I come from and what family traditions we have. That’s when I decided to create a Ukrainian folk doll – Motanka.

Motanka dolls are more than just a toy or an ornament. They carry the memory of ancestors, traditions and meanings. They tell the story of the creation of the world and the history of each individual family. Certain details show which region each doll was made in. The process of its production is unique, and every detail, colour, the direction in which the fabric is wound, and even the day of creation have a certain meaning. It is a deep process that connects many generations.

When I make Motanka, I feel that I am weaving the past and the present. Each doll becomes a small vessel for hope, care and heritage. It became a way of communication, when we were able to share our traditions, stories, the meaning behind them with our British friends. I never thought that something so small – a hand-made doll – could contain so much power. But when I see someone’s eyes light up when they learn about our traditions, or when I teach a child how to properly fold fabric, I know I’m doing more than just crafting. I’m sharing love, identity, and resilience.

And so every Motanka I make is a quiet storyteller of our homeland and our hopes for the future.

Hanna Mariienko
OBERIG | creative workshop

Photo: Hanna teaches motanka–making at the Kupala festival in Brighton, 2023.



What motanka means today

The motanka doll is an interesting thing. Researchers still can’t decide whether it was used by Ukrainian women in the past as an amulet – something that would be placed in a home to bring prosperity, or something people would give to soldiers going to war, to keep them safe – or whether it was just used as a children’s toy. We now think that it could have been a combination of both. In the current times, we give these dolls as amulets, and we hope that they can keep the people who receive them safe.

A lot of what we know about the modern motanka is to do with things that Ukrainians invented more or less recently. Unfortunately we don’t have many reliable sources that can tell us what the colours and symbols traditionally meant. Some researchers say that we only have a few old books about motankas, and there isn’t anything in them about motankas being amulets, or about their colour symbolism. Other people say that those books were written in the 19th century, and the authors only went to a few villages to do their research, but there are modern Ukrainians who were told by their own grandmothers and great-grandmothers that motankas are amulet dolls, and why their great-grandmothers used particular colours when making them. I don’t really think we can know for sure.

So it’s all a mixture – a bit of passed-down knowledge, a bit of fan fiction, a bit of academia, a bit of folklore. But I think we can see one of the most important reasons for art and for folklore here. It is needed to heal people and help people in their times of trauma. We can definitely say that these are now amulet dolls, because we started sending them to the soldiers on the front line, and the soldiers say that they keep them safe, so we have given the dolls this meaning. This is our ancient and modern folklore: it’s the combination of the ancient stuff and the response of the Ukrainian nation and modern young people to the ongoing war.

Vladyslava Bondar

Photo: Motanka dolls made by Hanna Mariienko