Embroidery Day-2026: Ukrainians around the world join the celebration of the 20th anniversary.
Today, May 21, 2026, Ukrainians around the world celebrate Embroidery Day. This year the holiday is special, because the national tradition celebrates its first serious anniversary – exactly 20 years ago the idea of mass wearing of traditional clothes was born.
Traditionally, the holiday is not tied to the state holiday and every year falls on the third Thursday of May, symbolizing the preservation of Ukrainian values and their integration into modern everyday life, informs the portal PromPolitInform.
The history of this day began in 2006 in Chernivtsi. Then a student of the Faculty of History, Political Science and International Relations of Chernivtsi National University named after Yuri Fedkovich Lesya Voronyuk invited her classmates and teachers to choose one day and put on embroidered shirts together. At the beginning, only a few dozen students joined the action, but over two decades the initiative has grown into a worldwide scale, uniting the Ukrainian diaspora and supporters of our culture in dozens of countries.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the holiday, a number of significant cultural, educational and charitable events are planned throughout Ukraine. The main focus of this year’s events remains the support of the Ukrainian military, so most of the actions are aimed at raising funds for the Defense Forces of Ukraine. In large cities of the country, thematic photo exhibitions are held, which demonstrate the history and uniqueness of ornaments of different regions, as well as interactive lectures on amulet symbols encoded in patterns.
In Kyiv and regional centers, masters of traditional art conduct open master classes, where everyone can learn the basic techniques of Ukrainian embroidery. In addition, Ukrainian educational and cultural institutions organized online flash mobs, urging them to share photos in family costumes with holiday tags. Museums across the country opened special exhibitions with rare ancient embroidered shirts, which were preserved or restored, recalling the deep roots and invincibility of Ukrainian identity.
Photo – from open sources
