Good day to everyone reading these lines. What do you notice first when you see an embroidered rushnyk? I notice the colours the piece is worked in, and only then the other details. So in this article I will tell you about colour — more precisely, about the colours Ukrainian craftswomen have long used when embroidering rushnyky: what those colours mean, where and when they were used and what they were made from. Let us begin.

The meaning of colour. White.

Have you seen a rainbow? Beautiful, is it not. A rainbow is formed by the dispersion of white light in droplets of water. From a single white light come seven colours. I am not sure our ancestors knew this, but it was exactly white that became the main colour of the embroidered rushnyk — the colour of the ground on which the pattern is worked. In general white stands for God the Father. It is the colour of strength, the colour of life, the colour of purity, both physical and spiritual. Embroidery worked in white is meant rather for spiritual needs, for contemplation. It is also the colour of energy. Interestingly, it is easier to rest and recover in white clothing and a white home. This colour protects actively. And how can one not think of doctors here?

The symbolism of black.

Unlike white, black absorbs information and energy. Embroidery in white and black on white cloth is one of the oldest, though this combination is found more often in woven rushnyky than in embroidered ones. Traditionally it is the colour of death, the colour of the other world. The combination of black and white is found in funeral pieces and in embroidered rushnyky used during Lent.

An example of how many-sided and deep this symbolism is: black embroidery is widespread across Ukraine, and not only as the colour of mourning or death. In many districts older people, who were the keepers of wisdom and of the knowledge of generations, wore black vyshyvankas. Black was widespread in everyday life in Podillia too, where it was actively used in vyshyvankas. Interestingly, in some districts (the Sokal area) even wedding vyshyvankas were embroidered in black. Black is also the colour of the earth, of ceremony and of wealth. Its use depended on the occasion. This colour is very common in expensive fabrics and in festive dress. Black dye was made by combining various materials such as willow and oak bark, buckthorn, and infusions on walnut shells.

The embroidered rushnyk and the colour red.

Red is a colour that belongs to many peoples of the world, and Ukrainians are no exception. It is the most expressive, the most active, the richest and the most beautiful. It was used most in clothing for children and young people, in wedding dress and in embroidered rushnyky. Red is a very strong, active colour with the most pronounced sacred and protective functions. Its role is to affirm life, to protect and to feed with energy. Red answers to the element of fire; it is hot, bright and warming. It stands for the masculine principle in nature. Red also stands for the blood shed by warriors for their land.

Red is the dominant colour on wedding rushnyky too. It is a symbol of unbroken blood ties, a symbol of love and of the family line. It was found most often in Polissia, though it was very widespread in the Poltava, Kyiv, Chernihiv and Slobozhanshchyna regions as well. In Zakarpattia you will find vyshyvankas embroidered in red thread alone. Embroidered rushnyky worked in red are very smart and festive, and they graced every Ukrainian home.

Red dyes were once expensive, because chervets (as the red dye was called) was made from cochineal. You know the month of June, called cherven in Ukrainian? They say its name comes from the name of this dye, because it was in that month that the cochineal was gathered. Natural plant pigments from madder, bedstraw, St John's wort, oregano, chickweed and other plants and berries were used too.

Blue in the ornament of an embroidered rushnyk.

The world is built on the struggle and at the same time the union of opposites — the masculine and the feminine, the element of fire and the element of water. It is exactly such an opposite, and at the same time a complement, to red that blue represents. Blue is the symbol of water, the symbol of the feminine principle.

In the ornament of Ukrainian vyshyvankas blue was used mostly as an outline. In embroidered rushnyky it is used more widely, though even here it is very rarely dominant. Most often blue is combined with red on an embroidered rushnyk. This combination is found most often in Right-Bank Ukraine, especially in Podillia. Such a two-colour ornament stands for the union of the active, hot masculine red and the passive, cold feminine blue. Incidentally, the pairing of red and blue is far older than the pairing of red and black.

Embroidered rushnyky with purely blue patterns were considered «lenten». Such rushnyky were hung up during Lent alongside white ones, or blue and white threads were combined in a single pattern. The combination of blue thread with black is also considered «lenten». Blue thread was mostly made using the flowers of the pasque flower.

Gold or yellow.

Yellow and gold stand apart in the embroidery of rushnyky. Both are read as the colours of heavenly fire, the colours of the Sun, and they stand for divine wisdom and wealth. Rushnyky were never worked entirely in these threads, but combined with other colours they look highly symbolic and expressive. Rushnyky whose ornament combines red, black and yellow are found mostly in Right-Bank Ukraine — in the Kyiv and Cherkasy regions and in Podillia. In Podillia, embroidery in yellow (wheat-coloured) and white thread was also widespread. More expensive embroidery was worked in white and gold.

Yellow is present in the embroidery of the western regions of Ukraine too. There various shades are used, moving from light to darker tones, which gives the embroidery bright, living colour.

A great many natural dyes were used to make yellow and its shades, among them buckwheat straw and chaff, the leaves of the wild pear, crab apple and more.

The embroidered rushnyk with a polychrome pattern.

In this article we have looked at the main colours craftswomen used when embroidering rushnyky. But besides those described above, threads dyed in other colours and shades with various natural plant and mineral dyes were used as well: shades from pale yellow to dark brown, from grey-blue to dark grey and black, and various tones of green and brown.

Multicoloured embroidered rushnyky were characteristic of Right-Bank Ukraine, and of Podillia in particular. Now, with the wide use of the synthetic dyes the chemical industry provides, the colour variations in rushnyky keep growing. But this use of unnatural colours is causing a decline in both the sacred and the decorative function of the embroidered rushnyk.

I hope you have found it interesting to learn about the meaning of colour on a Ukrainian embroidered rushnyk. Of course, one article cannot cover all the centuries-old heritage and traditions tied to the use of colour on embroidered rushnyky. But I think this article will be a guide and will help you choose a rushnyk at our online vyshyvanka store «Vyshyvanochka.ua».

We wish you happy shopping!