Ukrainian community of Vegreville at the Pysanka Park
Natalka Sydoruk for NP-UN.
On May 16 in Vegreville, Alberta, the local Ukrainian community came together to celebrate Vyshyvanka Day. All newcomer families came wearing their embroidered shirts for a little party with coffee and donuts at Pysanka Park. Unfortunately, rain hindered all previous plans for having fun in a sunny park — conversations with a cup of coffee for adults and running around the playground for kids. So everybody moved to the building of the Vegreville Cultural Association. Four newcomer women spoke about the meaning this holiday and what it means to them in Canada. They emphasized that members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have to protect our right to wear vyshyvanky paying an ultimate price and they need our support.
Every Ukrainian newcomer, who arrived in Vegreville, came with their own special shirt. Most families feel that Vegreville is like at home, due to its rich Ukrainian heritage. Many intend to obtain Permanent Residency in Canada— to provide stability for their children.
Vyshyvanka Day is an international holiday that aims to preserve the Ukrainian folk traditions of creating and wearing these embroidered shirts. It is celebrated the third Thursday of May. The idea of Vyshyvanka Day was initiated in 2006 by Lesia Voroniuk, then a student at Chernivtsi University.
For new generations of Ukrainians, it is almost obligatory to have a vyshyvanka in their wardrobe and these shirts got more and more intricate. They are now considered high fashion. In 2009, John Galliano made a collection called “Frozen Ukrainian Brides”. Inspired by this traditional attire, Vyshyvanka Day is celebrated on a workday for a purpose — so everybody could come to work in the shirt and show that Ukrainian culture is a part of everyday life.
But there is more to vyshyvankas than just being traditional, beautiful or fashionable. For hundreds of years people embroidered on their shirts coded many ancient signs. For example, bezkinechnyk is a form of wave-shaped embroidery used on a vyshyvanka to symbolize continuity and the power of life. Squares carry symbols of Earth. Berehynia (female-shaped embroidery) carries a similar meaning. On wedding vyshyvankas, these signs were used abundantly. Eight-pointed stars, also called the Stars of Redemption or Stars of Bethlehem represent rebirth or resurrection, and are associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. The Tree of Life — is probably the oldest and most significant shape of embroidery on vyshyvankas. It shows a connection to the living and the dead and also a connection between the past, the present, and the future.
We have to pass on our traditions, which unite us everywhere in the world. Our earliest symbols once forged us into a group, an ethnicity, and a nation. Now they help us connect with each other and pass something, that you can understand only with your heart. Symbols never lied to us, about who we are.
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