Abstract
<jats:p>This article offers a religious-studies and semiotic analysis of the Christmas star as a sacral-cultural symbol within the context of the transformation of Ukrainian religious identity caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine and the resulting forced migration. The author introduces the concept of migrating religious identity, emphasizing its dynamic, processual, and context-dependent nature. The Christmas star is examined as a materialized sign of sacred light, a hierophany, and a mediator between the transcendent and the social order, enabling the preservation and transmission of collective memory in new cultural environments. Particular attention is given to the anthropological and cultural dimensions of the Christmas star in the secularized societies of Northern Europe, especially Sweden, where it functions as an element of «banal religiosity» and a marker of seasonal sacred time. The article analyzes the symbolism of different star forms and numbers of points – from four-pointed to multi-pointed stars – highlighting their theological, iconographic, and culturalhistorical interpretations within Eastern and Western Christian traditions. Special focus is placed on the Moravian star as a pedagogical and paraliturgical symbol of Pietism and its influence on contemporary Advent practices. The study demonstrates that, in migration contexts, the Christmas star acquires new semiotic functions, becoming a tool of symbolic integration, religious self-reflection, and the preservation of Ukrainian Christian identity abroad.</jats:p>