culture
Editor’s Note: This article was published by the twice-weekly newsletter “The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak” on May 20, 2024, and has been re-published by the Kyiv Independent with permission. To subscribe to "The Counteroffensive," click here. When Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine began, Anastasia Boyko considered fleeing Ukraine to keep her three-month-old baby safe. She instead decided to help Ukraine's war effort using her great-grandmother's love of embroidery. Generations of women in Anastasia's family are united by this heritage – she couldn't leave her family and their tradition...
Kyiv Independent
Every year on the third Thursday of May, Ukrainians celebrate Vyshyvanka Day. Vyshyvanka is the Ukrainian word for an embroidered shirt or dress – a central piece to traditional Ukrainian clothing. Vyshyvanka is traditionally made from linen and embroidered with various symbols unique to each region of Ukraine. Throughout history, Ukrainians have worn Vyshyvankas for special occasions, such as weddings and various holidays. However, in recent years, embroidered shirts have found renewed popularity among Ukrainians who style them with everyday outfits like jeans and jackets. Since the 2014 Euro...
Kyiv Independent
With their song "Teresa & Maria," Ukraine's Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil qualified for the Eurovision finals in Sweden's Malmo, successfully passing the semi-finals on May 7. The final round of the international song contest is to be held on May 11. The two Ukrainian artists said their song is dedicated to strong women who persevere in the face of adversity. "We are talking about the importance of unity," they told the Ukrainian outlet Rubryka. "Even though, as Ukrainian women, we wrote this song about Ukraine, everyone in the world can see themselves in the lyrics." The names Teresa and Maria r...
Kyiv Independent
For the nearly two-thirds of Ukrainians who identify as Orthodox Christians, Easter is known as Velykden, meaning “Great Day” in Ukrainian. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine calculates the date of Easter according to the revised Julian calendar. It falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox — one of the two moments per year where the day and night are of equal length. At the center of the week-long preparations is the Easter basket, known as sviachenemeaning “that which is blessed.” The Orthodox Easter basket is far from its Western counterpart, which usually fea...
Kyiv Independent
Stanislav Aseyev, a Ukrainian writer, journalist, and activist who has joined Ukraine's Armed Forces, suffered a concussion in combat and was hospitalized, according to his social media post from May 1. Aseyev is known for his reporting from the Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas region before the full-scale war, which led to him spending more than two years in brutal Russian captivity. "I'm alive, although according to all the laws of physics and probability, I should have died," Aseyev wrote on X, adding: "The positions, unfortunately, have been lost. Now I'm in the hospital with a concuss...
Kyiv Independent
If there is one institution in Ukraine impervious to the sweeping decommunization efforts of the last decade, it’s the Soviet-era canteen, or stolovaya as it’s usually referred to in Russian. An invention of the Soviet Union’s founding father Vladimir Lenin, the stolovaya (called yidalnia in Ukrainian) was meant to control scarce resources and “liberate” women from the kitchen by freeing them to pursue industrial occupations. Stolovayas were ubiquitous in the USSR, where recipes were standardized and dispersed across the union making dining in a stolovaya a nearly identical experience from Kyi...
Kyiv Independent
Known poet, TV host, and military officer Dmytro Lazutkin was assigned as a spokesperson of the Defense Ministry, Lazutkin said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda on April 10. Born in Kyiv in 1978, Lazutkin is a laureate of the Shevchenko National Prize, the country's highest award for work in culture and arts. While having a background in multiple professions, he is best known for his poetry. Lazutkin was mobilized into the 47th "Magura" Mechanized Brigade in the summer of 2023, where he oversaw the unit's public relations. The officer was transferred to the 59th Motorized Brigade in Febru...
Kyiv Independent
A total of 1,795 cultural institutions have suffered damage at the hands of Russian forces in parts of the country that had been liberated by Ukrainian forces, the country's acting Culture Minister Rostyslav Karandieiev announced on March 29. Speaking at a forum on the reintegration of liberated Ukrainian territories, Karandieiev emphasized the devastation, including the recent destruction of the Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design in Kyiv by a Russian missile. Ukrainian cultural centers have often served as target for Russian drone and missile attacks, as Russia continues to att...
Kyiv Independent
If you are ever a guest for an evening in a Ukrainian home, at some point you can probably expect a narrow bottle of sweet alcohol made from local fruits, known as nalivka, to be placed on the table. While nalivka is traditionally home-made, in 2015 Ukraine’s largest restaurant group !Fest opened a bar in Lviv that focused solely on selling 17.5% cherry liquor and recreating an intimate homely experience on the cobbled streets of Lviv’s old town. Piana Vyshnia, or 'Drunken Cherry' in English, has since grown to be one of Ukraine’s most recognizable chains of bars, from Kharkiv in the east to L...
Kyiv Independent
If you are ever a guest for an evening in a Ukrainian home, at some point you can probably expect a narrow bottle of sweet alcohol made from local fruits, known as nalivka, to be placed on the table. While nalivka is traditionally home-made, in 2015 Ukraine’s largest restaurant group !Fest opened a bar in Lviv that focused solely on selling 17.5% cherry liquor and recreating an intimate homely experience on the cobbled streets of Lviv’s old town. Piana Vyshnia, or 'Drunken Cherry' in English, has since grown to be one of Ukraine’s most recognizable chains of bars, from Kharkiv in the east to L...
Kyiv Independent
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