What is International Vyshyvanka Day? Google Doodle honours Ukrainian embroidered shirts
TODAY'S Google Doodle celebrates the International Vyshyvanka Day.
This is held on the third Thursday of May every year, but why do they celebrate embroidered shirts?
What is International Vyshyvanka Day?
Vyshyvanka - which means embroidered shirts in Ukrainian - honours the nation's folk tradition for the clothing item on the third Thursday of May every year - with the date dropping on May 21 in 2020.
But these are no ordinary shirts, with over 250 distinct stitches used to denote various vyshyvanka coded symbols.
They often fall into floral ornamentation, zoomorphic figures and geometric shapes categories.
Each embroidered shirt pattern has its own detailed meaning with some depicting natural landscapes and can change depending on the region.
Ukraine's love for embroidered shirts goes all the way back to the ninth century BC, when Scythians - who lived in the country's territories - wore the clothing.
When did International Vyshyvanka Day start?
The celebration started in 2006 by Chernivtsi National University student Lesya Voronyuk.
Yet, it has since exploded into helping unite Ukrainians across the globe, no matter their religion, spoken language or place of residence.
Parades are often held in Ukraine itself, while many others wear embroidered shirts to celebrate the day.
Who celebrates International Vyshyvanka Day?
From what started out as a small celebratory day, now over 50 countries participate in the day.
It is often called a flash mob holiday, due to not being attached to any state or religious holiday, along with its variety of colours in the shirts.
Today's Google Doodle, created by guest artist Tiana Yakunova, is gracing its famous logo in the traditional colours to mark the occasion.
MORE GOOGLE DOODLES
What is a Google Doodle?
In 1998, Google founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google to show they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.
The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.
Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.
In 2020 so far they've had Doodles remembering Aids activist Nkosi Johnson, who died aged 12, and Britain's Schindler, Nicholas Winton, who helped rescue many Czech children before World War Two.
The Doodles have also celebrated St Patrick's Day and Leap Year.