On Saturday I participated in a Solidarity With Ukraine event at the Piece Hall in Halifax. It was a very moving event with many people from Halifax’s Ukrainian community there, and the One Voice choir. I was particularly moved by the friendly warmth of the members of the Ukrainian community that I met there.
Many of the men there were wearing embroidered shirts. After the singing and speeches had finished one of them got chatting with me and during our conversation invited me to feel the denseness of the embroidery on his shirt, an indicator of quality. It was a black shirt with embroidery in various shades of blue. He explained that this was a sombre style intended for wearing at funerals.
The embroidery on vyshyvankas has regional variations of pattern and colour:
The vyshyvanka not only speaks of its Ukrainian origin but also of the particular region in which it was made. The knowing eye could detect where a person hailed from by the clothes on their back. Embroidery is thus an important craft within Ukraine and different techniques exist to suit local styles with their own particular patterns and colours. Traditionally, the thread was coloured according to local formulas using bark, leaves, flowers, berries and so on. In this way, the local environment is literally reflected in the colour of the embroidery. (JJ Gurga, Echoes of the Past: Ukrainian Poetic Cinema and the Experiential Ethnographic Mode)
I love embroidered clothing, and have at times embroidered home-made blouses and dresses. I’m now itching to do so again…
