“Save for Posterity” Campaign Dedicated to the World Vyshyvanka Day

19.5.2025

A 2nd year student of the Starobilsk Professional College, majoring in “Primary Education”, wrote a story for World Vyshyvanka Day.

At the very edge of the village, where the wind hums mournfully in the crowns of old poplars, stands an abandoned house. A leaning fence, dim windows, silence that envelops everything around, like a blanket of memory and oblivion. It is here, to his father’s house, that a man returns for the first time in many years. His mother has long since passed away, leaving behind only memories – and this house, which is slowly losing the battle with time.

The door sighs with a creak as he enters. The air smells of old wood, dust and the past. Oleksii steps carefully, as if afraid of awakening forgotten voices. His gaze stops at a faded curtain on the wall. He opens it – and freezes: in front of him is an embroidered portrait of Taras Shevchenko, created by his mother’s hands.

Every stitch, every cross on the canvas is like her touch, her silent story about the Kobzar, about the struggle, about freedom, about Ukraine. This portrait is not just a thing, not a decoration. It is a living memory. It is a mother.

A tear rolls down his cheek. The evenings flash in his memory when his mother embroidered by the light of a lamp, and he, a little boy, listened to her calm, deep stories. Vyshyvanka was more than a hobby for her — it was an act of love for his son, for his native language, for the land.

Oleksii carefully removes the portrait, wraps it in a clean cloth and takes it to the city, to Luhansk. Taras Shevchenko National University.  It is here that Shevchenko’s legacy is carefully and with dignity studied. It is here that he decided to pass on his priceless memory.

— This is from my mother, — he says quietly, handing over the portrait, and in his voice — gratitude, pride, pain and bright hope.

Today, the embroidered picture takes its place in the administrative building of the university in the city of Lubny on Vokzalna Street. The university staff sincerely thanks the donor for this heartfelt and expensive gift. Because this embroidery is not just a work of art, but a symbol of love, memory, and an uninterrupted connection between generations.”

With respect, the author of the story Anastasia Shevchik
2nd year student majoring in “Primary Education”,
Starobilsk Professional College