Vyshyvanka Day festivities in streets of Charlottetown to celebrate Ukrainian culture

Celebrations will kick off in Charlottetown this weekend for Vyshyvanka Day, which highlights Ukrainian heritage and culture.

Tetiana Rymska, a UPEI business student and activist, said this is a somewhat new holiday.

"Vyshyvanka is absolutely important, and everybody thinks that this is some sort of very old celebration, but it's not," she told CBC's Island Morning. 

"It is quite a recent celebration in Ukrainian history, and actually the girl who invented the celebration is still alive, so it's that recent."

Island Morning10:40P.E.I.'s Ukrainian community celebrates Vyshyvanka Day

Ukrainians across the globe celebrated World Vyshyvanka Day this week. Ukrainians proudly wear vyshyvankas, a traditional embroidered shirt, to show solidarity and support for Ukraine. Tetiana Rymska, a young Ukrainian activist, shares why this day is significant and what celebrations are planned this weekend. 

The festival, which lands on the third day of May, was created in 2006 by Lesia Voroniuk after she and some classmates wore traditional embroidered shirts, or vyshyvanka. The festival soon caught on with many Ukrainians.

Rymska said this year's celebration is about bringing awareness to the destruction of Ukraine's cultural sites in the ongoing conflict against Russia.

"We want to bring awareness to all the territories of Ukraine that are still under Russian occupation... and also all the destroyed Ukranian landmarks and historic sites."

Celebrations will start at noon on Sunday, May 18 in front of Charlottetown City Hall. Participants will then walk down Quen Street carrying a large Ukrainian flag. 

"You should definitely show up if you like fancy clothing, because people are going to be very dressed up," Rymska said. "Some of my favourite parts of this event is just to walk around and look at what kind of vyshyvankas people are wearing."

'We cannot be erased'

Rymska said that Ukrainians are fighting for their existence, and that makes these celebrations more important.

"This year our vyshyvankas are so important because this is part of our culture that we carry on with us, that we wear every single day... as a huge symbol that we cannot be erased."

Rymska has several family members still living in Ukraine. She recently visited her home country to do volunteer work, a time that she's reminded of often, even after returning to P.E.I.

"You get an app that tells you when there's an air siren," she said. "For me, I still didn't turn mine off, I still get notifications."