The Shevchenko Days (Ukrainian: Шевченківські дні, romanized: Shevchenkivski dni, lit. 'days of Shevchenko') are an unofficial holiday in Ukraine commemorating the anniversary of poet and activist Taras Shevchenko's birth and death. Lasting from 9 March into the following day, the Shevchenko Days are typically commemorated by public readings of Shevchenko's literary works and teaching of classes on Shevchenko. The holiday first became a national holiday under the Ukrainian People's Republic, and later retained this status in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and modern-day Ukraine.
| Shevchenko Days | |
|---|---|
| Observed by | Ukrainians |
| Type | Cultural |
| Significance | Birth and death anniversaries of Taras Shevchenko |
| Celebrations | recitation of works by Shevchenko, teaching of classes on Shevchenko |
| Begins | 9 March |
| Ends | 10 March |
| First time | 11 March 1918 |
| Started by | Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic |
Background
editTaras Shevchenko (1814–1861) was a Ukrainian Romantic poet, writer, artist and activist whose career flourished under the Russian Empire. Shevchenko played a significant role in the development of Ukrainian culture in the face of Russification, and since his death he has been recognised as Ukraine's national poet.[1] Shevchenko's influence on Ukrainian culture has been described by University of Cambridge professor Rory Finnin as "perhaps only second to Shakespeare" among writers globally,[2] while Ukrainian literary historian Yurii Boiko-Blokhin wrote in 1955 that Shevchenko, distinctly among writers, was a symbol of Ukraine's "national essence" to an extent unsurpassed in Europe except by Homer in Greece and Virgil in the Roman Empire.[3]
Commemoration
editEarly years
editCommemoration of the Shevchenko Days as a holiday began in 1918, under the Ukrainian People's Republic. At a 6 March [O.S. 21 February] 1918 meeting of the Council of People's Ministers chaired by Prime Minister Vsevolod Holubovych it was decided that 11 March would be a state holiday honouring Shevchenko. According to the directive, all government institutions were to be closed, all schools were to hold classes only involving Shevchenko during the holiday, government institutions were to be decorated with flags, and a performance at the Kyiv Opera House was to be conducted on a yearly basis. The celebration was named the "Holiday of Shevchenko" (Ukrainian: Шевченківське свято, romanized: Shevchenkivske sviato).[4]
A year after the Ukrainian People's Republic proclaimed Shevchenko Day to be a holiday, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic did the same. Many provisions in the Soviet Ukrainian decree were similar to that of the Ukrainian People's Republic, including classes only involving Shevchenko. The Ukrainian SSR celebrated the holiday with a literary exhibition on the Khreshchatyk.[4]
Following the defeat of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the Ukrainian–Soviet War the Ukrainian diaspora continued to celebrate the Shevchenko Days, including Ukrainian soldiers interned in Poland and Czechoslovakia.[5]
Under the Soviet Union
editAfter the Ukrainian–Soviet War and the establishment of the Soviet Union the Shevchenko Days continued to be celebrated in Ukraine. From 1938 to 1964 the Soviet government participated in celebrations,[5] with particular attention devoted to 150th anniversary of Shevchenko's birth in 1964.[6]
Ukrainian Soviet dissidents also frequently used the Shevchenko Days to express their support of Ukrainian culture and separateness from Russia. Viacheslav Chornovil's time as a Soviet dissident began with a speech at Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant during the 1964 Shevchenko Days celebrations, when he attributed to Shevchenko the belief that "every system built on the oppression of man by man, on contempt for human dignity and inalienable human rights, on the suppression of free, human thoughts, on the oppression of one nation by another nation, and in whatever new form it may hide — it is against human nature, and must be destroyed."[6]
In present-day Ukraine
editSince the 1989–1991 Ukrainian revolution that brought Ukraine independence from the Soviet Union, the Shevchenko Days have once received official support as a cultural holiday. The tradition of schoolchildren reciting Shevchenko's works in schools, performed under the Ukrainian People's Republic,[7] has been revived and remains popular.[8] Shevchenko is also recited at events and in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament of Ukraine) during the holiday.[9]
References
edit- ^ Grabowicz, George G. (2014). "Taras Shevchenko: The Making of the National Poet". Institut d'études slaves. 85 (3): abstract – via JSTOR.
- ^ Finnin, Rory (January 2011). "Nationalism and the Lyric, Or How Taras Shevchenko Speaks to Compatriots Dead, Living, and Unborn". The Slavonic and East European Review. 89 (1): 31. doi:10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.89.1.0029 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Bojko, Jurij (December 1955). "Taras Shevchenko and West European Literature". The Slavonic and East European Review. 32 (82): 77 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b Kucheruk, Oleksandr (9 March 2024). "Як вшановували пам'ять Тараса Шевченка в УНР та в перші роки радянської влади" [How the memory of Taras Shevchenko was honoured in the UPR and in the first years of Soviet power]. National Museum of the History of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 26 November 2024.
- ^ a b "«Волею історії він ототожнений з Україною і разом з її буттям продовжується нею…». Виставка-альманах до 210-ї річниці Тараса Шевченка" ["By the will of history, he is identified with Ukraine and continues with its existence…" Exhibition-almanac dedicated to the 210th birth anniversary of Taras Shevchenko]. Central State Archive of Higher Organs of Power and Government of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 7 March 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
- ^ a b Seko, Yaroslav (14 March 2020). "Шевченкіана Вячеслава Чорновола" [The Shevchenkiana of Viacheslav Chornovil]. In Derevinskyi, Vasyl (ed.). Чорноволівські читання: Матеріали VI Всеукраїнської наукової конференції [Chornovil Readings: materials of the 6th all-Ukrainian scientific conference] (in Ukrainian). Kyiv: Beskydy. pp. 123–125.
- ^ Manko, Mykola (9 March 2024). "Шевченківські дні в Острозі за Української Народної Республіки" [Shevchenko Days in Ostroh under the Ukrainian People's Republic]. State Historical-Cultural Preserve of the City of Ostroh (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 26 November 2024.
- ^ "Святкування Шевченківських днів у закладах освіти громади" [Celebration of Shevchenko Days in the hromada's educational institutions]. Krasyliv urban hromada (in Ukrainian). 11 March 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
- ^ Amosov, Bohdan (9 March 2021). "Шевченко назавжди. Історія Кобзаря від петербурзького денді до української ікони і героя поп-арту" [Shevchenko forever: The story of the Kobzar, from a Petersburger dandy to a Ukrainian icon and hero of pop art]. The New Voice of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 26 November 2024.