Ukrainians celebrate traditional folk holiday amid war

Lviv, Ukraine, May 19 (EFE).- Ukrainians celebrated on Thursday Vyshyvanka Day, an annual holiday celebrating the folk tradition of creating and wearing ethnic embroidered clothes called vyshyvanka.

But this year, vyshyvanka has become a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion.

“This is our sacred amulet in this war, Happy Vyshyvanka Day, Ukraine!” president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video posted on his Twitter account in which he is wearing a traditional vyshyvanka shirt.

Vyshyvanka Day is celebrated every year on the third Thursday of the month of May.

“Congratulations to everyone on Vyshyvanka Day. (This shirt) is our history. Now we are fighting for it too. For the right to wear it: freely, with pride and joy,” Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, posted on Telegram.

Pictures and videos of Ukrainians wearing traditional vyshyvanka in Ukraine and around the world have flooded social media. EFE

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