On the occasion of Global Embroidery Day, celebrated this year on Thursday, May 15, the World Congress of Ukrainians (WCU) is urging Ukrainians and their friends around the globe to join marches and wear their embroidery.

Embroidery Day, May 15: WCU calls on Ukrainians worldwide to support Ukraine.

The central goal of this global campaign is to publicly support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, with a special focus on temporarily occupied territories.

During the planned marches, WCU suggests paying particular attention to the territories temporarily occupied by Russia. The organization invites Ukrainians worldwide to wear embroidery as a sign of solidarity with those who currently cannot do so due to the threat of persecution – for residents of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia, and Kharkiv regions.

In its address, the World Congress of Ukrainians reminds that the Russian Empire has attempted to eradicate everything Ukrainian for decades: language, culture, and traditions. However, even while in exile and deportations, Ukrainians continued to embroider, and these patterns became a language of resistance and unyielding spirit.

On Global Embroidery Day, WCU aims to remind the global community once again about the temporarily occupied Ukrainian lands, their unique cultural heritage, and to support those Ukrainians who cannot openly demonstrate their national identity due to the threat of punishment from the occupying authorities.

The campaign will take place under the slogan #VyshyvankaForever: occupation is temporary, embroidery is forever.

The World Congress of Ukrainians also encourages everyone to share photographs of embroidery patterns characteristic of the occupied regions of Ukraine on social media, adding the phrase “I wear embroidery for…” – mentioning a specific region or a person's name.