It will be reminded that the holiday was founded by the students of Yurii Fedkovych National University in Chernivtsi. In 2006 the youth was trying to bring the embroidered shirt back to the everyday lives of present-day Ukrainians – as a talisman, a symbol, and inseparable part of the Ukrainian culture.
“We have passed a complicated path from misunderstanding, skeptical attitude to action and to the embroidered shirt itself – before the Ukrainian people recognized our holiday on the level of consciousness of every Ukrainian,” the initiator of the action “Nationwide Vyshyvanka Day” Lesia Voroniuk from Chernivtsi said, “Today we want all babies born on May 19 in all maternity houses in Ukraine to get their embroidered shirts as a present.”
Owing to benefactors, jointly with the Corporation of Cities, the embroidered shirts were bought for Kyiv, Lviv, and Chernivtsi oblasts. The activists from Luhansk oblast asked for help in organization of the holiday in Sievierodonetsk. Recently a big package was sent to this city.
Last week Heritage of the Nation, the first feature documentary about embroidered shirts, premiered in Kyiv. In the film, representatives of Ukrainian diaspora from five countries of the world shared their memories. The film will be also screened in Lviv, Chernivtsi, again in Kyiv on Vyshyvanka Day, and as well abroad.
