Embroidery Day in Ukraine (19/05)

Every third Thursday of May, Ukraine celebrates Embroidery Day (Ukrainian). Vishivanka Day) – is a holiday designed to preserve national traditions and culture through the popularization of one of the most famous symbols of the Ukrainian national costume – embroidered shirts.

Ukrainian embroidery – is one of the types of folk national applied art associated with hand embroidery or using a sewing machine of patterns and ornaments on clothing (both men's, women's, and children's), household items (towels, pillowcases, tablecloths).

The history of this type of art is very ancient, and therefore, along with the aesthetic side, designed to evoke pleasant, kind feelings, show beauty, embroidery also had an occult character, associated with the fact that ornaments and patterns served as amulets. Hence the variety of colors and types of ornament, where each of them was given its own meaning.

The locations of the ornaments are also associated specifically with the amulet function of embroidery. They are located at the transition points of clothing to open parts of the body: the edges of the sleeves, the hem, the gate. There were characteristic differences in drawing on men's and women's clothing, on clothing for boys and girls, young and old people. Different regions of Ukraine carefully preserve their traditions in color, as well as types of patterns.

According to information disseminated in the media and the Internet, the tradition of celebrating Embroidery Day appeared in 2006 thanks to the initiative of Lesya Voronyuk, a student at the National University of Chernivtsi. Watching one of her classmates come to class wearing a national embroidered shirt, and also meeting such shirts on some other students, she invited her friends and other students to choose one day a year when they would all wear an embroidered shirt and come in it for lectures at the university. The initiative was supported by many students and even some teachers. From that moment on, the formation of a stable tradition began, which grew into a national holiday.

With the spread and growing popularity of the holiday, every third Thursday of May, festive processions in national costumes, meetings in squares, as well as concerts, fairs and exhibitions began to be held in many cities of Ukraine. In a number of cities, since 2012, a tradition has emerged of giving embroidered shirts to babies born on this day. The organizing committee of the holiday held photo competitions in embroidered shirts, including a family photo competition.

In addition to the desire to preserve the idea of national clothing, Embroidery Day aims to preserve the traditions of its creation and wearing, as well as the history of national costume.

1834