Ukrainian Towel
Ukrainian rushnik from ancient times was a symbol of Ukraine, like viburnum, and willow, and Ukrainian song. But Ukrainian folk songs are already singing a little. On the willows, growing along the rivers, the boys arrange “tarzanki”, from which they jump into the water. A towel is just a piece of white linen with embroidered birds and flowers on it…
Recently I was at a wedding with my cousin. Registration in the Central Palace of marriage, the wedding in the church – everything was very beautiful. Here the cars have already arrived at the restaurant, where the banquet should take place. The parents of the young came out on the porch. In the hands of the mother of the bride was a huge ruddy loaf, which lay on a beautiful towel. I did not believe my eyes – it was the same one that my grandmother embroidered for a long time, and my sister and I, joking, almost broke in half: each one pulled him to her. Then my grandmother’s eyes were filled with
The bride and groom got out of the chic limousine, bowed to their parents, kissed the loaf, which then lay with the towel on the wedding table.
So, this tradition did not die, the towel did not die. So they met newlyweds in Ukraine one hundred and two hundred years ago. Even now, when there are luxurious wedding dresses on the present brides, elegant tuxedos on the bridegrooms, and the wedding corteges consist entirely of sparkling “foreign cars”, an indispensable attribute of even the most modern wedding celebration is a simple, maybe even rude Ukrainian towel. He has not changed. Time has changed, the other has become Ukraine, and the Ukrainian towel remains the same. On it, the berries of the viburnum and mountain ash still ripen, birds sing, the branches of trees grow green, the flax grow blue. He is, as before, embroidered with love, sitting at the window for a long time.
I’m sure that the towel will remain the same as it was always. No wonder he was glorified by Taras Shevchenko, Pavel Tychina, Andrei Malyshko. Towel is a shrine. The shrines do not change. They either live or die.
Grandma, will you forgive me? Will you also present me with a priceless gift on your wedding day, in which you will invest your soul? Will you send a Ukrainian towel for me? I hope so. Let there be a shrine in my family.