A long cloth of embroidered linen from Ukraine. It is hung above icons, wrapped round newborn babies and, at weddings, used to bind the couple’s hands. Families hold their ceremonial rushnyky sacred.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
The earliest record in our files is a scholarly one: an article by Sciacca in the journal Folklorica in 2013, as cited by the Glencairn Museum. It describes the rushnyk as a cloth believed to keep watch over the family and the home.
To verify: Sciacca’s full name and the title of the 2013 article; An older, dated record, such as a rushnyk in a museum collection
A rushnyk is hung above icons and used to wrap babies. At a wedding, it binds the hands of the couple together.
Ceremonial rushnyky are sacred to the families who keep them. We show the rushnyk as a textile and credit the Ukrainian makers who embroider it. It is a cloth, and we tell it as one, not as a pendant.
