A lunnytsia is a crescent-shaped amulet jewelry with the tips facing down.

Archaeological finds show that moon-shaped pendants were made by Trypillians in the fourth millennium B.C. Lunnytsia pendants were also widespread in the Late Bronze Age (in the last quarter of the second millennium B.C.) and among the Sarmatians of the Chernyakhiv culture.

In Ancient Rus, parents used to give a pendant-lunnytsia to their young daughters for their birthdays. It was believed that the girl acquired a powerful patroness in the person of the goddess Mara, who protected her from the influence of dark forces and had a beneficial effect on her future.

In the 9th and 10th centuries in Kievan Rus, among the pendants, the moon pendants decorated with circles, triangles, and diamonds, made of gold and silver, bronze, and yellow copper, stood out for their sophistication.

Archaeological finds show that in the 10th and 11th centuries, silver lunnytsia pendants were also widespread in Western Polissya and Volyn.

The best examples of lunnytsias are stamped silver ones decorated with real grain. Archaeological finds also include lunnytsias made of bronze and tin-lead alloys with a pattern that copied the grain. 

Zoriana Kuryliak

Project "Decorative metal: metal elements of traditional Ukrainian neck jewelry" is supported by the European Union under the House of Europe programme.