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| 2632 Ukrainian Christmas Vertep theater group in 1948, in village of Trostianets, Zboriv District, Ternopil Province |
Vertep is a portable puppet theatre and drama predominantly in Ukraine (but also met in Russia, Belarus, Croatia and Serbia), which presents the nativity scene, other mystery plays, and later secular plots as well. The original meaning of the word is "secret place", "cave", "den", referring to the cave where Christ was born, i.e., the Bethlehem Cave in the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Religious Christmas carols were also sung, often in harmony.
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