Military Symbolism in Modern Vyshyvankas as a Source of the Latest Cultural Coding and Meaning Making

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to examine the semantic meaning of modern military symbols on Ukrainian embroidered shirts, which serves as a means and source of the latest cultural coding and meaning-making of society caused by the war and the processes of resistance to the enemy of the Ukrainian people. The research methodology is based on the application of analytical, semantic, and cultural methods, which will allow a comprehensive consideration of the issues and formulate reasonable conclusions. The scientific novelty is that for the first time in the cultural dimension, the modern military symbolism of Ukrainian embroideries is considered as a phenomenon caused by military social upheavals, which indicates an attempt to define the modern symbolic meaning of the fight against the enemy and to encode the idea of victory in embroidery. Conclusions. Based on the study of modern Ukrainian embroideries, which use the images of military symbols (samples of modern weapons and equipment used by Ukraine – Himars missile systems, Bayraktar drones, Javelin portable missile systems; as well as the Ukrainian Mriya aircraft destroyed at the beginning of the war), it has been proven that that such artistic developments and their embodiment in embroidered products of Ukrainian brands are a way and source of the latest coding of the idea of victory in the war against the Russian invaders, and, by analogy with the traditional Ukrainian embroidery, have a deep symbolic meaning for Ukrainian society as amulet codes postulating the idea of affirming the struggle of the Ukrainian people, the idea of indestructibility, strength of spirit, and preservation of national and cultural identity. The emergence and accumulation of such new symbols on embroidered clothing is in line with the general state of extreme tension/bifurcation of Ukrainian society, which requires certain stabilising and balancing actions, manifested in this case by the newest encoding of modern ideas and meanings in a traditional cultural and artistic way. This affirms the idea of spiritual unity, relaying and reinforcing the meanings and values of freedom, the struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence, the establishment of statehood and their own identity.