Vyshyvanka Day, 19 May 2011
A greeting for the day when the office, the tram and the whole street change colour, and a note on where the day came from.
A good Vyshyvanka Day to everyone wearing one today.
What I like most about this day is its origin. It was not decreed. It started with students in Chernivtsi agreeing among themselves to wear embroidered shirts to class on the same day, and it spread because other people saw it and liked it.
That is an unusual pedigree for a national observance, and you can see it in how the day behaves. Nobody organises it. There is no ceremony to attend. It simply happens: the tram fills up with embroidery, half the office arrives in it, and children wear shirts their grandmothers made.
The patterns differ by region, by village, sometimes by family, and people can usually tell you where theirs is from. That is a lot of information carried on a shirt.
A good day to you — and to whoever did the stitching.
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