Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
Illustration by Yaroslawa Surmach Mills from How a Shirt Grew in the Fields. There is also much to say about the person who cared so much that she would spend sleepless nights completing her project, whether it was for herself, her husband, her children or her loved ones. Regardless of the person for whom it was destined, the embroidered work remains an intrinsic expression of love. In his "Poem About a White Shirt", Ivan Franko tells the story of Yuliana who gives her husband Oleksandr a white shirt as a token of her faithful love: "My lord, here is a new white shirt for you to wear in battle; I will remain faithful to you as long as this shirt remains white." Their fate is shrouded in that white shirt.4 Other poets and writers have been inspired by this ancient tradition of making linen cloth. They also celebrated the Ukrainian women decorating a piece of cloth; for instance, the image of a mother dressed in Ukrainian attire, or a mother bent over her embroidery work, as if she was in prayer, is a theme widely explored. Another very Ukrainian image found in poetry is the description of the wonderful feeling of a child waking up in a house decked for the holidays where a fresh ceremonial cloth covers the table and ritual cloths hang around icons and portraits of loved ones. Those ceremonial and ritual votive pieces (towels) are called rushnyky and they are very much part of the spiritual Ukrainian national wealth. They were made of long hand woven cloth, embroidered on both ends, and they served a great variety of purposes: ceremonial (for holidays) as well as ritualistic (for weddings) and especially for votive purposes framing the icons to mirror the household's devotion and keeping the vigil for constant prayer. A young poet, Tetiana Pyshniuk (b. 1962), remembers ceremonial cloths and ritual votive cloths in a poem entitled "My Mother's Rushnyky" in her collection of poems, Poezia: From my childhood I remember, votive towels That my mother created with love. Our home was decked up for the holidays in Ukrainian All gleaming in embroidered votive towels. On the cloths, nightingales were singing And branches of guelder-roses in bloom embellished them Green hoops were climbing, wrapped around their props And blue cornflowers twinkled in the midst of wheat ears. It was as if she had embroidered her fate, Joining the shadow to the dawn, And with love, and with songs, and the morning sun... Love of my mother, may you brighten my life forever!5 Ceremonial towels, rushnyky, are very special because they mark specific moments in one's life. For a young girl of an age to be married, ceremonial wedding towels were prepared. Poet Mykola Ratchuk captures this special time in a young woman's life through the image of a bird which comes to life in an embroidered ceremonial towel to symbolize love in the nightingale's song. An embroidered little bird flew down from the ceremonial towel Out though the little sash window kept ajar, And on to a little branch in bloom Or on something yet unknown until now: On the sound of little silvery bells 18 ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ 1997 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
Page load link
Go to Top