Abstract:

Abstract Thoughts about the end of life and subsequent rebirth are among the most popular motifs in Ukrainian epigraphic embroidery. Embroidered towels (rushnyks) with inscriptions (folk texts) were a mass phenomenon from the end of the 19th till the first half of the 20th century. For instance, there were numerous variants of embroidered inscriptions (folklore formulas) such as “Don’t mourn for Me, Mother”, “My grave is under the cross; my love is on the cross”, “Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!” and so on. The author analyzes some of these folklore formulas connected with apocalyptic motif in Ukrainian epigraphic embroidery. Nowadays, many of them are re-actualized via the Internet. It is worth noting that during modern folklorization of ancient rushnyks, their meaning may be significantly transformed.

Keywords: