Symbolism in Ukrainian Culture + On Our Ankles
The beauty itself — fresh as ever, only days after the inking.
Once upon a time, there were four girls who lived abroad, and they each got a spontaneous tattoo.
Back in Episode 4, we talked about why we Ukrainian dance. One of the points was we Ukrainian dance to be authentic, and part of that is finding meaning in what we do — so much so, we often find ourselves trying to dissect the meaning of the smallest things.
This of course was a factor when designing and choosing our tattoo. We considered every line, colour, and symbol and found meaning in how it relates to our heritage and how it relates to our own lives. Over time, it has become something even more special to us.
Perhaps a main reason why we try to find meaning in everything is because it’s ingrained in us as Ukrainians. Plus, we have learned about the symbolism and superstitions that are such a big part of Ukrainian culture. We particularly love the symbolism because you don’t have to necessarily believe that a certain motif is going to protect you from a certain energy per se, but it can simply remind you to think about your actions and live in the moment.
We thought it was about time to share with you about our tattoo, and if haven’t quite connected the dots (or lines), it’s the same as our Vsi logo. We’ll tie in Ukrainian symbolism, decode bits of our tattoo, and reflect on our year in Ukraine along the way.
How it happened
We’ll give a little bit of a backstory on how we came to get these tattoos — because before this, three out of four of us had never really planned on getting a tattoo.
It all started when Natalya wanted to get her ears pierced. We were walking around Poltava after a dance rehearsal and came across TattooDim, a tattoo parlour that also offered piercings. All four of us wandered in, and Natalya got her ears pierced right then. We went back a couple days later for Kaitlin to also get a piercing. (Note from Kaitlin: A piercing of what, I’ll never tell. Just kidding. It was the cartilage on my left ear.)
Since we were basically regulars by this point, the guys working in the shop made a joke with us that the next time we stopped by we should get matching tattoos. They were only half joking, which means they were also half serious so they started throwing out suggestions — maybe four dots on our wrist or something else very small to have as a souvenir and represent the four of us.
We left that day without tattoos, but apparently the idea was planted because we thought and talked about it for the next few days. We were sitting on a patio when we all got on board with the idea and then started talking about what it should look like. We wanted something small so that we could still hide it when we dance but also something Ukrainian and meaningful to represent our year and our deep love for our Ukrainian roots.
The inspiration for our tattoo actually came from a photo of an embroidered shirt from Kyiv’s Ivan Honchar Museum. (Click this to see the photo.) On the shirt, there’s a repeating pattern of an eight-pointed star. Almost immediately we felt like this was “the one.”
With our design in mind, we went back to the tattoo parlour the next day and were eager to leave with matching tats. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time for a walk-in, so we booked an appointment for the next day.
So the next day we headed on over, ready to become changed forever. Except we soon realized our tattoo artist Dima at was under the impression only one of us was getting the tattoo — language barriers are reeeeeal. Dima wasn’t exactly keen on doing the same tattoo four times so he told us he would go for a smoke and get back to us.
Maybe you can guess the outcome. Dima came back with a grin and said “YES!” But we didn’t just go on our merry way — we all wanted the tattoo on the inside of our ankle, and Dima tried to convince us (in Russian) that the spot was really painful. We were stubborn and eventually Dima gave in to us and our wishes.
We all knew it was going to be painful, but OOF. Natalya volunteered (well, was voluntold) to go first — she ended up being the toughest of all! While Natalya was getting permanent ink injected into her skin, we (Kaitlin and Hannah) were in the lobby having second thoughts because the blue ink stencil of the design looked like snowflakes. And no offence to anyone who has a snowflake tattoo, but that just wasn’t the vibe we were going for that day.
We almost talked ourselves out of it, but here we are.
Why we chose the design
Besides just liking what it looked like, our tattoo design has a meaning that runs much deeper than the dermis layer of our skin.
Embroidery is such a major part of Ukrainian identity — they say it offers protection from negative energy and brings good luck. Traditionally, on shirts embroidery was put around the cuffs, the bottom hem, and the collar. This was done to offer extra protection from evil to parts of the body that weren’t covered by fabric. I guess we have a little extra protection on one of our ankles.
Embroidery and the motifs used date back to pre-Christian times. These same designs can be found in other Ukrainian arts and culture pieces like pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs), ceramics, and a variety of textiles. As the colour and design of the motifs change, so does their symbolism. Every line and colour add up to create a bigger picture and story, kind of like a code for destiny and life.
Symbolism in the lines
The general shape of our tattoo is an eight-pointed star. Here are a few ways we break down this symbol.
Compass
Not that this is a traditional Ukrainian symbol, but our tattoo reminds us of a compass! The four spokes represent each of us. And just as a compass has north, east, south, and west, all of us ventured from across the country to pursue our passion leading to meeting one another. Besides the spokes representing each of us, they also remind us of the different Ukrainian cities we lived in and each dance group we trained with.
Moving Forward
Our tattoos are placed in a way that makes them look like the star is tilting forward. This sort of symbolizes and reminds us that we’re always moving forward — in life, in dance, in learning, in everything!
Intersecting Lines
All of the lines intersect at a common point representing the four of us meeting. To take it one step further, all of the lines intersect in the centre. The centre of our lives is our Ukrainian heritage, so it’s very fitting that we were brought together in Ukraine to learn more about Ukrainian culture. Intersecting lines can also represent the meeting of earth and heaven — we were living our dreams during our year in Ukraine, so you could definitely say we were living in heaven on earth!
A Cross & Double Cross
The four spokes or lines of a cross can represent the four elements or the four seasons in Ukrainian culture. Again we’ll circle back to this representing the four of us! We’re all so drastically different from one another in our personalities, interests, jobs, and so on. But just like the seasons and the elements, there is overlap, and ultimately we all work together.
A double cross is when there are two cross on different angles that overlap and intersect at the center, so like an x and a + put together. The double cross is part of the eight-pointed star design and can symbolize the creation of life as well as two separate entities meeting. Certain components of our lives met during our year away like Ukraine and Canada meeting, us four friends meeting, and our passion meeting our everyday life.
Symbolism in colour
Just like the lines and shapes have symbolism, further meaning can be drawn from the colours used to make up the design. Our tattoo is mainly black and red — there is a bit of white, which is supposedly for “added detail,” but some of us think this was included just so the tattoo would more painful, a small punishment for making the tattoo artist do four of the same tattoos back to back.
Red
Red has quite a list of things it can symbolize, and one of the first that popped out for us was passion. We think it probably goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: WE’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT UKRAINIAN DANCE AND CULTURE.
On to the next.
Red can also symbolize a spiritual — a pretty deep term if you ask us. Whether it happened when we lived in Ukraine or once we were back in Canada, our time in Ukraine lit a fire in us. It pushed and continues to push us in our own dancing and teaching. We have this little voice (Dima the tattoo artist, is that you?) that reminds us to do our best to reach our full potential and to be examples for dancers we teach.
We have always been passionate about participating in Ukrainian dance and culture, but since we have come back, that passion has expanded to preserving, celebrating, and teaching others about the culture.
Vasyl Bosyy, one of the instructors we had the pleasure of working with in Kropyvnytskyi, said something that resonated with us. He said, “If people know Ukrainian traditions and customs but don’t share them, those traditions and customs die with the people who knew them.”
The more people who know details about the culture, the longer these details can live on. That has become one of our goals since returning — sharing our culture and experiences so it can live on!
Black
The colour black in Ukrainian culture can symbolize constancy. And if you too have never heard of that word before, here’s one definition from a quick search online: “the quality of being enduring and unchanging.” So, being constant.
For many of us, we’ve explored different jobs, various creative projects, and studied different topics, but the one constant for all of us has been our love for Ukrainian culture. It’s where we feel good and where we feel at home, which makes sense why it has always been a constant! Plus there’s so much to learn about Ukrainian culture that it’s almost impossible to get bored — it seems like the more you know, the less you know, so you’re always striving to learn more.
Nonchalantly showing off our matching ink on the port in Odesa.
White
Even though white is the colour there is the least of on our tattoo, there is symbolism in it that holds a lot of significance to us! White can symbolize birth, but don’t just think of it in the context of having a baby. From our year away, there have been a lot of new interests in each of our lives. And although it may not symbolize literally giving birth to a new human, we did feel like new people once we returned to Canada.
Black-Red and Black-White
When colours appear together, they can have an entirely new meaning.
Black and red together can symbolize ignorance arising from passion, while black and white together can represent ignorance arising from the mind as well as respect for souls who have passed away, which of course reminds of us our Ukrainian ancestors.
About being ignorant—during that year, we allowed ourselves to be ignorant toward our daily lives in Canada so that we could pursue our passions. We spent the year abroad focusing on ourselves, doing what we enjoyed, and being selfish with our time to spend it in this way — in the most positive meaning, ignorance truly was bliss for us during that year.
With that said, we want to emphasize that our ignorance was not towards how we lived in Ukraine. We never lost sight or took for granted that we were living a very privileged life in Ukraine — something we know many people cannot or are not able to experience.
We started doing this silly little thing of rubbing our tattoos when we’re needing to feel some love, missing Ukraine a little extra, or just needing to feel more connected. It’s swiftly followed by a text in our group chat to say, “I just rubbed my tattoo. I hope you felt it.” It has become our way of feeling each other’s energy and knowing we’re all still connected and supporting one another even when we can’t physically be together.
Our tattoo started simply as a reminder of our year in Ukraine and our connection to our Ukrainian heritage, but as you can tell, we could go on about it forever. Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, you’re just pulling meaning from whatever you want whenever you want to.” But that’s exactly the point — we continue to think about it and draw good thoughts from such a little thing.
Every time we sit cross-legged and our tattoo is staring up at us, or we catch a glimpse of it as it peeks out of our shoe, it reminds us of many different things.
Sometimes it reminds us of the strength that we had to move away for the year, while other times it brings a smile across our face as we relive a memory. As the world lives through the ongoing pandemic, it has been really difficult for people to connect in person through Ukrainian culture, but our tattoo reminds us how the culture changed our lives for the better, how there were better days, and that there will be better days to come.
We’ve come to a conclusion that our tattoo largely symbolizes what we need to draw from it on a particular day, in a specific moment. It’s a reminder of all the various parts that come together to create our lives. And it’s a reminder of our Ukrainian culture, of where it has taken us and where it will lead us.
We each just rubbed our tattoo.
We hope you could feel it.
Resources
There are many great websites and books out there that talk all about symbolism in Ukrainian culture. Here are the sites we used to help guide this episode.
You can listen to the podcast version of this blog post at this link.
Schaslyvo!