A public event for Vyshyvanka Day, an annual celebration of Ukrainian folk traditions, was held in Taipei yesterday, with organizers saying that they hoped to raise awareness of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
The celebration, organized by Taiwan Stands With Ukraine (TSWU), a volunteer organization founded in Taipei in response to the Russian invasion, was held at an outdoor venue near the Guting MRT Station and featured a picnic and market selling Ukrainian food, beer and souvenirs.
TSWU member and Ukrainian Oleksandr Shyn said that Vyshyvanka Day is dedicated to the tradition of embroidering vyshyvanka shirts, which have become a celebrated symbol globally of Ukrainian culture.
Photo: CNA
While Vyshyvanka Day is normally celebrated on the third Sunday in May, with festive events such as picnics, markets and parades, the war has prevented people in Ukraine from enjoying it to the fullest this year, Shyn added.
“But here in Taiwan, the picnic is a great opportunity to show people that Ukrainian culture matters and that it is a beautiful culture,” he said.
Shyn hoped the picnic would raise awareness and bring in more donations, he said, adding that all of the funds raised at the event were to be donated to groups providing humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“The war is still going on, even though people talk about it less — it is still happening,” he said.
Visitors to the event could buy unique “Ukraine + Taiwan” embroidered stickers, as well as make their own motanka dolls.
Anastasiia Palamarchuk, a Ukrainian who came to Taiwan on an Academia Sinica scholarship and was responsible at yesterday’s event for teaching people how to make the motanka dolls, said that Ukrainians used to keep such dolls in their homes for protection and to bring blessings to their families.
Traditionally associated with fertility, motanka dolls now symbolize healing, protection and family ancestors, Palamarchuk said.
In Ukraine, Palamarchuk said, she made motanka dolls to send to soldiers for good luck.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
RSS