Symbols
Magic of symbols
for you
Every symbol in Ukrainian traditional embroidery has its meaning. In older times, vyshyvanka - Ukrainian embroidered shirt - was created with special meaning - for special occasion as wedding or Christmas, for particular phase in life, as childhood or marriage and of course manifest wishes and energies people wanted to invite and amplify in their lives.
Protection
From ancient times people believed that special symbols can protect them from evil, misfortunes and unfriendly eyes.
To guard the person wearing a shirt it has a thin string of ornament around the wrists, collar and along the edge of the shirt.
In addition to symbols people used red colors or a sudden mismatch in pattern to drive a evil eye away. Curious that protection symbols often were also embroidered in the places not visible from the first sight - on the back or on the inside of a shirt.
To guard the person wearing a shirt it has a thin string of ornament around the wrists, collar and along the edge of the shirt.
In addition to symbols people used red colors or a sudden mismatch in pattern to drive a evil eye away. Curious that protection symbols often were also embroidered in the places not visible from the first sight - on the back or on the inside of a shirt.
Attraction
Many symbols were arranged in the ornaments to attract something important for the person wearing it - health and prosperity, love, harmony, fertility, wisdom. Our ancestors also embroidered symbols that meant connection and synergy between feminine and masculine powers, earth and sky, physical and spiritual worlds.
They believed, if you put the symbol with affirmation to attract something in your life and you wear this garment mindfully,
this what you are looking for will find you too.
They believed, if you put the symbol with affirmation to attract something in your life and you wear this garment mindfully,
this what you are looking for will find you too.
Identity
Individual signs as well as patterns could be specific and unique for particular villages and regions. Of course each region of Ukraine has its own specialty in style and color palette chosen for embroidery and people were proud to present their history and identity through the diversity of embroidery patterns.Nowadays vyshyvanka is a strong symbol for Ukrainian identity and beloved element of clothes worn for celebrations, special occasions and daily as a stylish and proud statement.
Traditional symbols
Circle
Symbol of sun, life energy
Rhombus
Unity of sun and earth, fertility; with a dot inside - sown field, replenishment in the family
Straight cross
Symbol for masculine energy and power, sun
Star (Alatyr)
Unity of male and female energies, spiritual power of life, strong protective sign
Meandr
Life path, symbol of life eternity. Meandr is name with greek roots, curvy dance - is a ukrainian traditional name for it that is connected to pagan spring dance rituals.
Square
Wellbeing, abundance, harmony, soil
Triangle
Trinity, gate between worlds, unity of three worlds - earth as material world, underworld as invisible world, heavenly sky as spiritual world.
Side cross
Symbol for feminine energy and power, moon
Keys
Symbol of water, particularly underground water, some researchers assign it to snake cult, which also symbolised water and underworld as well as male energy.
Waves/Zigzags
water, rain, passage of time, life evolutionNew symbols
Kalyna (Viburnum)
stands for Ukraine. It is the oldest new symbol which earlier was interpreted in different ways as youth, girl, life energy, but most and most importantly - Ukraine with all her beauty and willpower to live and overcome all troubles. Red berries of kalyna (Viburnum) are often used in embroidery as well as other art forms.
stands for Ukraine. It is the oldest new symbol which earlier was interpreted in different ways as youth, girl, life energy, but most and most importantly - Ukraine with all her beauty and willpower to live and overcome all troubles. Red berries of kalyna (Viburnum) are often used in embroidery as well as other art forms.
Borodyanka cat
stands for unbreakable strength and resilience. This cat was found on the seventh floor of a destroyed by russian missiles house in Borodyanka, Kyiv oblast. Her owners went to check their family to other house and could not return to their home. The cat miraculously survived without food all alone for almost two months! Photo of the cat rescued by Zoopatrol volunteers went viral because of the the cat’s…face expression. Angry nad unbreakable she was starring in the camera as if planning her revenge on those who dared to attack her house.
Bavovna
stands for Ukrainian military success in liberating occupied territories in 2022. It appeared as a ridiculous result of propaganda attempts by trying to machine-translate russian text about “explosion sounds” to broken Ukrainian. Homonym “хлопок” got translated to bavovna - cotton and the blossom of cotton quickly became a meme and a symbol for successful and neat contrattacks of the Ukrainian Army. It was a great season for bavovna in summer of 2022 and more to come.