Famous wedding towels (towels) are certainly present at all weddings in various regions of Ukraine. Weddings here are held loudly and involve many events: matchmaking, bride redemption, blessing by parents, painting in the registry office, wedding, meeting a new family with bread and salt, a noisy feast with dancing, games and songs. A lot of towels are prepared for such a wedding; there is a Ukrainian ornament on each towel.
Towels at the Ukrainian wedding
A lot of embroidered towels are prepared in advance for the wedding, in some regions up to forty pieces. This is one of the main attributes at the Ukrainian wedding:
- Under the feet of the young (this is the most important rushnyk at every wedding).
- Under the loaf (young people are often met with him, and then this towel flaunts on the festive table of the young under wedding bread).
- Two towels for icons, two for blessing the parents of a young couple for a new marriage. These towels can be taken to the church for a wedding, but they are not left in the church. A separate option is being prepared for the church, as a gift from a young couple, but this is not necessary.
In total, you need to prepare five different options, you also need to add a towel, which bandage the hands of the young, and towels, which the young wife gives to parents and godparents, you can count up to 20-30 pieces at a Ukrainian wedding.
Ukrainian ornament and guarantee of family happiness
The main towel that will be the key to a happy family life is the one on which the couple will stand during the wedding. In the Kiev region, a girl embroidered it herself, showing someone her work was considered a bad omen. In some regions, a rushnyk is embroidered by a godmother. The fact that the fabric should be whole and white is already known to all. White color is a symbol of a long and happy journey, and the canvas can in no case be combined from two pieces of fabric.
The size of the towel should be proportional to the pattern you have chosen. That is, if the towel is divided into 3 parts, then 2 parts are embroidery on the left and right sides, and the central part remains clean. This is the place young people are becoming. Now the drawing itself. Each region has its own Ukrainian ornament and embroidery technique. Basically, these are geometric ornaments or ornaments of plant type: corollas, tree of life. The tree of life was previously embroidered with symbols of a kind.
The rule of embroidery of the main rushnyk
The fabric for the main towel is taken linen, its width is 45 cm, but the length can be different. Threads of two colors are used: red and black, they should be silk or wool. You should always embroider the Ukrainian ornament on Thursday, before which you should pray. It is impossible to swear and keep negative thoughts during embroidery. To embroider a rushnyk for a wedding you need to be very careful, it is strictly forbidden to make knots from the inside on a wedding towel.
In Ukraine, it is believed that if the front side is turned to people, then the wrong side - to God. The first shows what we are doing, and the second shows what we really think. Therefore, if the towel is untidy, the whole life in the marriage will be only for show. The right side of the rushnyk is embroidered first, and then the left. The right side is for the groom, and the ornament on the bench is always different on both sides.
How to choose an ornament?
It is not at all necessary to be tied to ornaments made with a cross, in the Ukrainian embroidery technique there are more than twenty of them. Many copies of stitch embroidery, you can embroider with simple stitches.
You need to choose the motive of the ornament that you liked more (roses, daisies, viburnum or something else). Such embroidery (Ukrainian ornament) patterns has the following:
- The lower part of the ornament is like a small “bank”.
- The main part is a wreath, a tree of life or the main ornament.
- The so-called scatter is not necessary at all.
- “Wave” is a thin strip of ornament that combines both edges (also not always).
It is necessary to embroider only those symbols that bring happiness and love, prosperity and prosperity that appealed to you, and in no case should you rip open and cross out the ornament with new meanings. You can’t fix anything.
Drawings of geometric patterns were used mainly on towels under the loaf. If you decide to make a Ukrainian ornament (there can be any pattern for a cross), try not to close the motifs in rectangular strokes and do not abuse the horizontal lines, separating one pattern from another. When the ornament is selected and it seems to you that everything is fine and everything is taken into account, do not rush to immediately start embroidering, it is better to consult with specialists. This article provides several options for rushnika schemes. If desired, you can remove the ornament in the cells.
Now that everything is defined and taken into account, you can begin to embroider, thinking about your beloved and a happy life. So, a wedding towel is a very individual thing. And you need to treat her with respect.
Be happy!