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In Ukrainian culture, vertep (вертеп, from ) is a portable puppet theatre and drama, which presents the nativity scene, other mystery plays, as well as secular plots with satire and comical elements. The original meaning of the word is "secret place", "cave", "den", referring to the cave where Christ was born, i.e., the Bethlehem Cave. Vertep first appeared in the first half of the 17th century under the influence of Western European traditions, which spread to Ukrainian lands, then part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (see szopka), and became popular in the Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate, which would eventually become a protectorate of the Russian Empire.
With time, production of verteps was adopted by urban and rural inhabitants and became a part of Ukrainian popular culture. Among others, a song from traditional vertep performance was included into the play Natalka Poltavka by Ivan Kotliarevsky.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the atheistic Soviet state severely persecuted religion and the associated elements of culture, and by 1930s the tradition of Christmas verteps was virtually eliminated, except in the lands of Western Ukraine. (1995). 9785770205541, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. ISBN 9785770205541
The sacred act was based on the Nativity scene with interludes, while the secular was based on day-to-day life often lampooning the various national traits of the local population with characters such as the Kozak (Ukrainian/Cossack), Liakh (Pole), Moskal (Muscovite), Zhyd (Jew), Tsyhan (Gypsy). Each was accompanied by representative dance music (Kozachok, Krakowiak, Kamarinskaya, etc.) Religious were also sung, often in harmony. Some verteps told of the destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich. Unlike real-life and allegorical personalities, religious figures such as Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary were never included in vertep performances.
In some regions, for example Galicia, people in villages would dress as vertep characters and go from house to house, acting out nativity plays during Christmas holidays. This form, following the old tradition of Malanka, is quite popular in Western Ukraine.
Vertep in Ukraine also became heavily intertwined with singing of the Ukrainian Carols ( Kolyadka).
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