Stitching Victory: Kamloops Joins the Global Rushnyk of Unity

This event took place on May 10, 2025.

📣 INVITATION TO CREATE A RUSHNYK OF UNITY IN KAMLOOPS 🇨🇦
🌍 Join Ukrainians around the world in weaving unity, culture, and victory through embroidery.

Dear Ukrainian community in Kamloops,
Dear friends of Ukraine around the world 💙💛

We are proud to join a deeply moving international initiative, “Rushnyk of Unity – Rushnyk for Victory”, now unfolding in Portugal, Estonia, Ukraine, and many other countries as a shared act of cultural resistance, remembrance, and hope.

📍 This Saturday, Kamloops is joining too!
📅 Saturday, 3:00–4:00 PM
📌 Location: Kamloops City Hall Plaza
🎽 Dress code: Vyshyvanka (embroidered shirt), Ukrainian flags, and embroidered Rushnyky (ritual cloths)
📷 We’ll take a photo to commemorate our Kamloops Rushnyk of Unity

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🌿 What is the Rushnyk of Unity?

It’s more than a beautifully embroidered cloth:
it’s a sacred thread of connection to our homeland, a woven blessing passed through generations, as sung in the beloved Ukrainian song by Andriy Malyshko:

“And the embroidered rushnyk you gave me for happiness…”

In 2013–2014, students and families in Kherson embroidered what became the longest rushnyk in the world: over 700 meters. It was stolen by Russian forces during the occupation, along with artifacts from museums, but the spirit of the Rushnyk cannot be erased.

Today, a new Rushnyk for Victory is rising, embroidered by Ukrainians and supporters across continents.

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🌏 Who is already part of it?

🇵🇹 Portugal: live gatherings in Faro, Lagos, and Lisbon
🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇺🇦 Ukraine, 🇫🇷 France, 🇩🇪 Germany: embroidery circles, community actions, and cultural events
🇨🇦 And now Canada: Kamloops joins in!

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✨ How can YOU be part of it?

If you own a vyshyvany rushnyk, bring it with you on Saturday!
Let us join our cloths together, symbolically weaving our hopes, our strength, and our unity into one shared Canadian-Ukrainian Rushnyk of Unity.

📢 Can’t attend in person?
You can still participate! Send us a photo of your rushnyk, a short story about it, or begin embroidering your own section of the Rushnyk for Victory wherever you are in the world.

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This is more than just an event.
It’s our response to those who try to silence our culture.
It’s our memory, our hope, and our action. 💪

💙 Together, we are strong.
🧵 Together, we will stitch victory.

If you’d like to contribute, help organize, or bring a rushnyk, feel free to send me an email to okondrashov@tru.ca.
Let’s create a powerful symbol of unity, one thread at a time.

Photo from my visit to the museum of Rushnyk in Cherkasy National University in 2018