Vyshyvanka Day festivities in streets of Charlottetown to celebrate Ukrainian culture [Video]

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.”

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. …