Vyshyvanka Day 2025: What date Ukraine and world celebrate it

Vyshyvanka Day: Purpose and origins of the celebration

World Vyshyvanka Day is a celebration created to unite Ukrainians across distances and generations. Its main mission is to promote and revive:

• Ukraine’s cultural heritage as a whole;
• the traditional embroidered shirt — the vyshyvanka.

This practically folk holiday originated at the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations of Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University in 2006, when student Lesia Voroniuk:

• saw her friend Ihor Zhytaryuk wearing a vyshyvanka during a long break between classes;
• suggested to him and their friends to choose a day when they would all wear embroidered shirts together

Thus, a team of like-minded individuals was formed — the organizing committee of the holiday, which is still actively working and developing this idea (Lesia Voroniuk, Oleksandr Tkachuk, Mykhailo Pavliuk, Oksana Dobrzhanska, Serhii Bostan, Iryna Mitnovych, and Pavlo Katerynchuk).

Vyshyvanka Day among students (photo: denvyshyvanky.com)

At first, only a few dozen students and professors supported the event, but by the following year, other university faculties began to join in.

Thanks to the student community, Vyshyvanka Day continued to spread across Ukraine each year.

In 2010, thanks to the Ukrainian diaspora, the holiday gained the status of a global celebration.

In 2015, recognizing the importance of the event and the demand for educational and humanitarian projects, the organizing committee established a relevant public organization – World Vyshyvanka Day.

Each year, it grows and implements more large-scale and high-quality initiatives.

When is Vyshyvanka Day: How to calculate the date

The initiative started by students has become one of the most beloved and widely celebrated holidays among Ukrainians and those in solidarity with Ukraine around the world.

Every year, more than 100 countries join in the celebration.

This day has also become:

• an important unifying educational platform for the implementation of dozens of projects in Ukraine;
• an integral part of cultural diplomacy abroad.

Calculating the date of Vyshyvanka Day is very simple. The holiday is celebrated on the third Thursday of May every year.

According to the organizers, this fixed day was chosen for many reasons, but the main one is that Vyshyvanka Day should fall on a working day (as a reminder that the embroidered shirt has always been an integral part of the life of Ukrainians).

Therefore, this year, Vyshyvanka Day will be celebrated on May 15 – both in Ukraine and around the world.

It will be dedicated to the Ukrainian cultural heritage occupied by Russia.

Vyshyvanka Day in 2025 (illustration: denvyshyvanky.com)

"We encourage you, when celebrating Vyshyvanka Day, to choose one of the convenient event formats – an exhibition, lecture, presentation, or meeting – and, if possible, to showcase the family or local relics (such as embroidered shirts, towels, etc.) that you have rescued or brought out," emphasized the public organization.

Finally, it is worth noting that the founders of the holiday are convinced that cultural heritage is an important component of:

• national identity;
• the modern development of Ukrainians;
• understanding one's roots and future.

The article was prepared using the following sources: the official website of the "Vyshyvanka Day" NGO, and YouTube channels "Europa Nostra" and "Vyshyvanka Day."