Description Rushnyk are ritual cloths embroidered with symbols and cryptograms of the ancient world. Used in sacred Eastern Slavic rituals, religious services and ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. Patterns with hidden meaning, passed down from generation to generation. This beautiful piece can be used as an altar cloth or for other ritual use. In the home they are draped around icons in the red corner or placed around pictures. From family photographs to images of important persons. They would accompany a person through life. A newborn was placed on a rushnyk, young men leaving home would be given one from their mother. They played a role in wedding rituals, during engagement ceremonies and at the wedding. Tieing the hands of the couple, at the shower the couple wore the rushnyk across the chest. It was carried when inviting guests to the wedding, the bride’s gift to the groom, her in-laws, and the matchmakers. Worn across the chest by the wedding guests, at the departure from the bride’s home and during the church service the couple stood on one, and on the wedding ritual bread was laid on one. The Ukrainian Hutsuls would hang them in the window to inform of a death in the family. At funerals the deceased were covered with a rushnyk, and it covered the oxen or horses pulling the hearse. The coffin was lowered into the grave with rushnyky, and the cross over the grave was draped with one. It was the most common gift made to churches and used in various folk rituals and celebrations. It decorated the ice cross on Epiphany and the birch tree during the Feast of the Trinity. At Easter it covered the food brought to church to be blessed and during Blessing of the Graves, it lay under the food offerings placed on the grave. It was used year round and could always be found decorating icons and the sacred “Red Corners” in homes. During Kupala rushnyky and flower wreaths were used for decorating roadside crosses. The final sheaf of grain gathered during the harvest was tied with a rushnyk. On Saint Andrew’s day girls hung rushnyky outside their windows at night to learn whether or not they would get married. When a house was constructed, the final beam was hoisted into place with rushnyky, which were then given to the workmen as gifts. This is a symbol of the family hearth, a link between the living and the dead. Made in Ukraine 28 inches in length
