Had it not been for the Russian occupation, there would have been a celebration in Ukraine this Thursday (19): this date marks the traditional annual Eid-al-Adha celebration. Vyshyvanka is called embroidery stitch, which is characteristic of local culture and is part of national identity.
Because of the war, the occasion became a symbol of resistance to Russian attacks, with the military, politicians of the country and the world wearing embroidered pieces.
In the video shared by Ukraine’s armed forces on Thursday, the message says that Vyshyvanka lives under the uniform of not only the military, but doctors, firefighters, volunteers, cooks, and a green wool jacket, the best-known garment of President Volodymyr. Zelensky – “Like a thread that lovingly unites all Ukraine”.
The president himself also shared Messages supporting Ukrainians in history and today decided to replace their “paramilitary uniform” with a Vyshyvanka.
Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian parliamentarian, said special embroideries are being prepared for inclusion on soldiers’ uniforms today to “protect the protectors of Ukraine”.
Shy celebrations were seen in the streets of the capital, Kiev, which the Ukrainian army recaptured. At the city’s central train station, a band dressed in characters held a musical celebration.
In support, the government of neighboring Lithuania invited its citizens to join Ukraine in April by wearing their traditional dress, as a form of solidarity in times of war. The President and First Lady still adopted this look on Thursday.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarusian opposition, which officially supports Russia, also reminded the importance of history for Ukraine and called on both countries to “keep their culture alive”.
Another Ukrainian MP, Inna Sovsun, celebrated the day with a protest against what she sees as the destruction of her country’s identity. On the last Vyshyvanka Day in 2019 before the epidemic and invasion, he recalled images of Mariupol, now destroyed and under Russian rule.
What is its meaning and significance? Vishyvanka?
Action matters: in Ukrainian folklore and history, Vyshyvanka is considered a talisman, an object of protection and good luck, it is so ancient that it has even become a saying. According to local media reports in Ukraine, there is a phrase saying that citizens of the land were born wearing this embroidery and it represents their ability to survive.
Although it has existed for centuries, its celebration on a particular day began in 2006 when Lesia Voroniuk, a student at Chernivtsi University, suggested to her classmates that they choose a day for everyone to wear their own pieces together.
Image: Anna Koberska/Getty Images/iStockphoto
The movement spread: other students and teachers joined in the celebration of their origins, and the idea strengthened until it became national and international in later years as Ukrainian immigrants wore their embroidery in other countries. It takes place on the third Thursday of May every year.
In 2011, on the fifth anniversary of Vyshyvanka Day, the party entered the Guinness World Records (book of records) by gathering in one place the largest number of people wearing embroidered shirts, while more than 4,000 people occupied the square. Along with parts of Chernivtsi, according to information from the local Molbuk newspaper.
Image: Sergii Zysk?/Getty Images
In 2015, a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea region, the Ukrainian government launched a campaign promoting the donation of embroidered shirts to soldiers fighting in the region as a way to cheer up the war. About 50 countries collaborated on the idea.
source: Noticias
