Rushnyky Ceremonial Cloths and Towels

Central Ukrainian rushnyky from a collection in Lviv, Ukraine, from my 2017 trip.

Rushnyk from the Poltava region of Ukraine, early 20th century, Ukrainian Museum in New York City, 2018. These soft tones are beautiful, aren’t they?

Rushnyk with blackwork stitches from the Ivan Honchar Museum in Kiev.

Cross-stitched rushnyk from the Cherkasy region, late 19th century, Ukrainian Museum in New York City, 2018.

Rushnyky (in Ukrainian) are embroidered ritual cloths that are used in religious and ceremonial events as well as everyday use in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. A baby would receive one at birth and then, at the end of life, be buried with it. Many Slavic cultures and others who live nearby, like Romania for one, have a similar type of embroidered “towel” that decorates icons or hangs on the wall on display. They are most often stitched in red: the color of life, fertility, the sun, and health. Stitched on hand-woven linen, they are one loom width and usually 3 yards long.

There is a wealth of variations in floral patterns and stitches– up to 200– that depict the tree of life. The stem and chain stitches outline while the satin stitch fills in basic shapes. One style will incorporate blackwork stitches to fill in patterns outlined with the stem stitch and sometimes they are made in cross stitch. Here are just a few rushnyky from my travels some examples gathered from research. We can see a similarity with the tree of life stitched in Hungarian írásos.

Rushnyk from the Poltava region of Ukraine, late 19th century, Ukrainian Museum in New York City, 2018.

Rushnyk from the Poltava region of Ukraine, late 19th century, Ukrainian Museum in New York City, 2018.

Central Ukrainian pieces via folkcostum.blogspot.com that also fill shapes with patterns and blackwork stitches.

Communist propaganda rendition,1951, thanks to folkcostume.blogspot.com.