Vyshyvanka Day 2025: Standing Together for Culture, Memory and Freedom

📅 Saturday, 17 May 2025
📍 Bedford Square, Exeter | 14:00–15:00
🎨 Art Exhibition: 15:30–16:30 | 19 North Street, Exeter, EX4 3QS

In the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as the war continues to ravage cities and uproot millions, Vyshyvanka Day 2025 takes on urgent new meaning. The Devon Ukrainian Association invites the local community, Ukrainian diaspora, and friends of Ukraine to gather for a symbolic rally and cultural celebration in the heart of Exeter — to stand in unity, wear our heritage with pride, and declare that Ukrainian culture will not be erased.

What is Vyshyvanka Day?

Vyshyvanka Day originated in 2006 as a grassroots student initiative in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, where young people chose a day to wear traditional embroidered shirts — vyshyvankas — as an everyday act of cultural pride. Since then, it has grown into a global celebration of Ukrainian identity, observed annually on the third Thursday of May.

Far more than just a fashion statement, the vyshyvanka is a sacred cultural artifact — a symbol of ancestral wisdom, spiritual protection, and regional diversity. Each stitch tells a story: of a family, a village, a people determined to survive and thrive.

In 2025, with Ukrainian cultural landmarks being deliberately destroyed, looted, or rewritten under Russian occupation, Vyshyvanka Day is a form of resistance. Wearing the vyshyvanka is an act of remembrance and defiance — a visible refusal to let centuries of tradition be silenced.Event Programme

14:00 – Community Gathering
📍 Bedford Square, Exeter
A peaceful, joyful gathering in solidarity with Ukraine.

14:15 – Start of Rally
Featuring poetry, song, and short speeches. Pupils from the Devon Ukrainian School “Berehynia” will share powerful cultural performances rooted in love for language and homeland.

15:00 – Conclusion of Rally

15:30–16:30 – Art Exhibition Opening
📍 19 North Street, Exeter, EX4 3QS
Visit a new exhibition by Ukrainian artist Maryna Omelchenko, whose work captures the emotional landscape of war, memory, and belonging.

Why It Matters Now

- Russia’s war on Ukraine is also a war on culture. From Mariupol’s libraries to Odesa’s museums, cultural sites are being targeted. Ukrainian language, history, and traditions are being banned or distorted in occupied territories.

- Each vyshyvanka is a declaration: We are still here. We remember who we are. We will not be erased.

- Vyshyvanka Day brings people together across borders — Ukrainians and allies alike — to affirm shared values: freedom, dignity, community, and peace.

Dress Code

Wear your vyshyvanka proudly — or bring any piece of Ukrainian symbolism: a blue-and-yellow ribbon, a sunflower, a traditional accessory. Show your solidarity and take your place in this living tapestry of resistance and hope.

About the Devon Ukrainian Association

The Devon Ukrainian Association is a community-led initiative formed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It supports Ukrainians displaced by war through cultural events, education, psychological support, and advocacy. It also works to build bridges with the wider UK public, raising awareness about Ukraine’s heritage and aspirations for peace and justice.