Textiles and National Identity among Ukrainians in Poland

Abstract

The changes

in functions of traditional folk textiles among the Ukrainians who in 1947 were resettled to northeastern Poland can be regarded as an indicator of the preservation of their Ukrainian national identity. While conducting field research amongst the Ukrainians living in Poland, the author frequently heard it said that their folk textiles (especially costumes and cross-stitched embroidery) were important symbols of their national and cultural identity. There are many functions of any national or regional textiles (Bogatyrev 1979; Bazielich 1987}, but I will focus on Ukrainian folk textiles as a symbol of the national identity of the users. Folk textiles as a national symbol does not, of course, exclude the coexistence of other functions such as ritual aesthetics, practicality, and qualifiers of gender, age, and wealth. However, all of these are less important than the national function of the Ukrainian textiles.