ATHENS | Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees demonstrated in Athens on Sunday wearing traditional embroidered shirts called “vychyvanka” which have become a symbol of the country’s unity for Ukrainians.
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Women, children, men marched in central Athens opposite the Greek Parliament on Sunday, wearing loosely embroidered shirts, the “vychyvanka,” traditional clothing, a symbol of unity and a “cultural weapon” against the Russian invasion.
Amidst Ukrainian flags and with Ukrainian songs playing in the background, Oxana Kitcheniouk Revagka, President of the Union of Ukrainians in Greece, explains that this “holiday that we celebrate every year, this year is dedicated to the struggle that ‘Ukraine for freedom’.
“Vychyvanka is a traditional costume that we wear at parties, weddings, christenings, but also on difficult days,” she continues.
The Vychyvanka festival, which aims to preserve the ancient folk traditions of making and wearing these clothes, was created in 2006 on the initiative of a student who organized a flash mob to promote this outfit to the whole world.
Vychyvanka has become fashionable again since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, followed by an armed conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
For Yuri Vishnievsky, 57, it is a “symbol of our DNA in Ukraine. Each embroidery, each color represents a region of Ukraine”.
“Even if we smile today, in our hearts we think of our compatriots in Ukraine. There are currently regions where genocides are being committed, like in Mariupol or Boutcha, innocent people have died,” adds Andreas Doroshkebych, 31, who is wearing a white shirt with red embroidery.
Anastasia Sarbash, a refugee from Mariupol, arrived in Greece a few weeks ago after fleeing through Russia, Georgia and Turkey.
“My family is still in Ukraine, in Mariupol. Now I could communicate with them, but I cry every day. They still have no water, no internet,” said the 29-year-old young woman, who works in the hospitality industry.
Three months of fighting between Russia and Ukraine has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and caused an unknown but undoubtedly enormous death toll in this port city, which had a population of more than half a million before the battle.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned to Ukrainians on Thursday to congratulate them on “Vychyvanka Day,” calling the shirt “our sacred amulet in this war.”