Ukraiins'ke used to be worn
to church on Sundays. It was worn on holidays. It was considered
appropriate and even obligatory dress for weddings. Specifically,
a bride was to wear ukraiins'ke to invite guests to her
wedding. This was done by walking the village with the maid
of honor or druzhka, who was also supposed to be dressed
in ukraiins'ke, as seen in these photos. The druzhka would
carry special breads called shyshky. The bride would enter
a house, place a shyshka on the table, and issue her invitation.
Ukraiins'ke was also worn for the actual wedding, the ceremony
in the church and the various ritual acts in the home of
the bride and groom. With the advent of Soviet rule, there
was pressure to stop wearing ukraiins'ke and to switch to
the more modern white dress and veil. Many villagers did
not like this and would wear the white dress for the civil
ceremony only. Outside of official circles, during all of
the ceremonies in the home, for example, they would still
wear ukraiins'ke. The church wedding was of course banned
under Soviet rule. A good example of wearing both the white
dress and ukraiins'ke is the 1983 wedding of Halyna Kapas',
nee Latysh, in the village of Iavorivka, Drabiv region,
Cherkasy province. The bride wears a white dress for the
civil ceremony, but is dressed in ukraiins'ke elsewhere.
With the independence of Ukraine,
ukraiins'ke is becoming more popular and widespread and
more and more people are choosing to do the same as Halyna
Kapas'. The return to earlier practice is not complete because
invitations are no longer issued on foot. Rather, invitations
are sent in the mail. Therefore, the formal walk around
the village in ukraiins'ke is no longer practiced. I was
told that, as the mailing of invitations was becoming more
and more prevalent, there was an intermediary phase. During
this phase, the bride would walk the village in ukraiins'ke
to invite the older residents, but she would send mail invitations
to the young.
