On the third Thursday of each May, Ukrainians throughout the globe have fun the vyshyvanka, a conventional embroidered shirt.
Yet the stitched panelling of a vyshyvanka extends past the garment itself. For many Ukrainians, every star or flower design is a symbolic expression of their proper to self-determination.
“I feel that vyshyvanka is a really vivid image that speaks for itself. Wearing vyshyvanka could be very simple to indicate your identification, your place, your belonging to a sure group,” stated Natalia Kamenska, co-founder of the Ukrainian model Gunja Project. “It is a means of claiming ‘We are Ukrainians.’”
Ukrainians mark Vyshyvanka Day by sporting the standard costume. Kamenska, a designer, advised CNN the shirt helps Ukrainian individuals kind a way of belonging within the face of colossal grief and uncertainty.
Kamenska described the struggle in Ukraine as “a tumultuous time” for her compatriots.
“With households being separated, individuals fleeing their homeland, individuals have a way of fixed nervousness from not understanding what’s going to occur tomorrow,” she added. “For many individuals, vyshyvanka is a factor that reminds them of the significance of all the things that’s occurring now.”