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RUSHNYKY: SACRED UKRAINIAN TEXTILES

Past Exhibits

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March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023 

“A house without a rushnyk is not a home.” — Ukrainian proverb

The word rushnyk derives from ruka, “hand,” and while it can refer to an ordinary towel, the ceremonial rushnyk is distinct in its ornamentation and its importance. In almost any Ukrainian home, the family icons—and, more recently, family photographs—would be draped with rushnyky. They are believed to offer protection to family, home and village. The cloths appear in all family rituals, infants are wrapped in them at birth and they play a significant role in betrothal and wedding ceremonies. Remarkably, even after the turmoil of the twentieth and twenty first centuries the use of rushnyky is still an integral part of Ukrainian culture.

The Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center is hosting this traveling exhibition from the Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Massachusetts. This exhibit features rushnyky and related artifacts from the collection of Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Hamilton College in Clinton New York.

PLAN A VISIT

Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles

Detail image of embroidered Rushnyk from the Dolyna District, Ivano Frankivsk Region, Ukraine, made in the mid-20th century.
Detail image of embroidered Rushnyk from the Dolyna District, Ivano Frankivsk Region, Ukraine, made in the mid-20th century.
Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles
Detail image of embroidered Rushnyk from the Dolyna District, Ivano Frankivsk Region, Ukraine, made in the mid-20th century. Textile from "Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles," hosted at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center from March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023. This traveling exhibition was organized by the Museum of Russian Icons (now The Icon Museum and Study Center) of Clinton, Massachusetts and featured rushnyky and related artifacts from the collection of Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Hamilton College in NY. The exhibit celebrated Ukrainian culture through one of its most ancient and valued traditions: rushnyky, ornately embroidered woven textiles used at the core of many life-cycle ceremonies and rituals.
Detail image of Merezhka Rushnyk with a double-headed eagle from the Poltava Region, Ukraine made in the mid-20th century.
Detail image of Merezhka Rushnyk with a double-headed eagle from the Poltava Region, Ukraine made in the mid-20th century.
Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles
Detail image of Merezhka Rushnyk with a double-headed eagle from the Poltava Region, Ukraine made in the mid-20th century. Textile from "Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles," hosted at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center from March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023. This traveling exhibition was organized by the Museum of Russian Icons (now The Icon Museum and Study Center) of Clinton, Massachusetts and featured rushnyky and related artifacts from the collection of Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Hamilton College in NY. The exhibit celebrated Ukrainian culture through one of its most ancient and valued traditions: rushnyky, ornately embroidered woven textiles used at the core of many life-cycle ceremonies and rituals.
Detail image of embroidered funeral Rushnyk from Ukraine made in the mid-20th century.
Detail image of embroidered funeral Rushnyk from Ukraine made in the mid-20th century.
Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles
Detail image of an embroidered funeral Rushnyk from Ukraine made in the mid-20th century. Textile from "Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles," hosted at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center from March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023. This traveling exhibition was organized by the Museum of Russian Icons (now The Icon Museum and Study Center) of Clinton, Massachusetts and featured rushnyky and related artifacts from the collection of Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Hamilton College in NY. The exhibit celebrated Ukrainian culture through one of its most ancient and valued traditions: rushnyky, ornately embroidered woven textiles used at the core of many life-cycle ceremonies and rituals.
Detail image of embroidered Rushnyk from Central Ukraine depicting a man and woman off to harvest with the date “September 5, 1942” beneath.
Detail image of embroidered Rushnyk from Central Ukraine depicting a man and woman off to harvest with the date “September 5, 1942” beneath.
Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles
Detail image of embroidered Rushnyk from Central Ukraine made in 1942. This genre scene depicts a man and woman off to harvest with the date “September 5, 1942” beneath. This suggests a commemoration of a birth or a wedding in the middle of the war. Textile from "Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles," hosted at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center from March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023. This traveling exhibition was organized by the Museum of Russian Icons (now The Icon Museum and Study Center) of Clinton, Massachusetts and featured rushnyky and related artifacts from the collection of Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Hamilton College in NY. The exhibit celebrated Ukrainian culture through one of its most ancient and valued traditions: rushnyky, ornately embroidered woven textiles used at the core of many life-cycle ceremonies and rituals.
Detail image of a woven Rushnyk with double headed eagles from Krolevets City, Sumy Region, Ukraine made in 1904.
Detail image of a woven Rushnyk with double headed eagles from Krolevets City, Sumy Region, Ukraine made in 1904.
Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles
Detail image of a woven Rushnyk with double headed eagles from Krolevets City, Sumy Region, Ukraine made in 1904. Textile from "Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles," hosted at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center from March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023. This traveling exhibition was organized by the Museum of Russian Icons (now The Icon Museum and Study Center) of Clinton, Massachusetts and featured rushnyky and related artifacts from the collection of Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Hamilton College in NY. The exhibit celebrated Ukrainian culture through one of its most ancient and valued traditions: rushnyky, ornately embroidered woven textiles used at the core of many life-cycle ceremonies and rituals.
Collection of wooden tools for producing linen.
Collection of wooden tools for producing linen.
Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles
Collection of wooden tools for producing linen from "Rushnyky: Sacred Ukrainian Textiles," hosted at the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center from March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023. Tools include weavers comb (berdo), flax combs (hetchel and hrebin'), scutching knife, spindles, spindle worl (priaslo), flax, loom weight, and mangle (rubel'). This traveling exhibition was organized by the Museum of Russian Icons (now The Icon Museum and Study Center) of Clinton, Massachusetts and featured rushnyky and related artifacts from the collection of Franklin Sciacca, Associate Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Hamilton College in NY. The exhibit celebrated Ukrainian culture through one of its most ancient and valued traditions: rushnyky, ornately embroidered woven textiles used at the core of many life-cycle ceremonies and rituals."