People dressed in costumes have a break while marching during the Vijanera Festival, in the small village of Silio, northern Spain, Sunday, January 3, 2016. The Vijanera masquerade, of pre-Roman origin, is the first carnival of the year in Europe symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and involving the participation of crowds of residents wearing different masks, animal skins and brightly coloured clothing with its own complex function and symbolism and becoming the living example of the survival of archaic cults to nature. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

A protester holds up a symbolic chain as the trial of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak continues on February 16, 2012 in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

Believers burn dried oak branches, which symbolizes the Yule log, on Orthodox Christmas Eve in front of the St. Sava temple in Belgrade, Serbia, January 6, 2016. Serbian Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Ukrainians wearing traditional costumes sing Kolyadky or Ukrainian Christmas Carols, as a part of Orthodox Christmas in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, January 7 2016. Orthodox Christians mark their traditional Christmas Day Jan. 7, with many ancient symbolic events. (Photo by Sergei Chuzavkov/AP Photo)

The symbol for “One Orlando” is spelled out at a makeshift memorial at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, Fla., Saturday, June 18, 2016. Nearby, visitors lit candles and prayed at a larger memorial, at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, to mourn the victims of the Pulse massacre. (Photo by Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP Photo)

The head of a decapitated rooster is pictured after a rooster run, during celebrations in honour of San Juan Bautista in San Juan de Oriente town, Nicaragua, June 26, 2015. The rooster runs, where horse-riders try to pull the head off live roosters, symbolize the beheading of John the Baptist. (Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)

Ceremonial skulls La Paz, Bolivia on November 6, 2020. Toads are in Bolivia symbols of the soil and of luck. They complement the Ñatitas, skulls of deceased people that are believed to have special powers. People ask them for different favours. The tradition is related to All Saints´ Day. (Photo by Radoslaw Czajkowski/Rex Features/Shutterstock)