A presentation of the 2026 ethnic calendar, initiated by artist and collector of authentic Ukrainian clothing Roksolana Prokopiv, was held in Chicago. The publication continues a project launched last year and is dedicated to popularizing Ukrainian national beauty, cultural heritage, and identity through traditional clothing from different regions of Ukraine. The calendar is illustrated with Roksolana Prokopiv’s own photographs of girls in authentic costumes.
This was reported by Radio UA Chicago / Surma Newspaper.
The presentation took place in the auditorium of the Church of St. Joseph the Betrothed. The event participants had the opportunity to chat with the authors and participants of the project, as well as see a fashion show of models whose photos were included in the calendar. All of them are students of the StarKids modeling school, whose mentor is professional model Kateryna Grod, who, together with Ivan Sabat, led the presentation.
The second part of the event was a demonstration of Hutsul guns - traditional outerwear made of sheep wool. Tetyana Drozhzhyna spoke about their origin and features, through which the guns arrive in Chicago from Yavoriv in the Kosiv region, where they are made by folk craftswoman Stefaniya Korpanyuk. The demonstration was accompanied by stories about family history and traditions.
During the presentation, musical numbers were performed by Lyubov Lukashevych, Angelina Sovych, Tetyana Barylyak, the vocal studio "Elegy", Tereza Dynka, Sofia Buryadnyk and Samira Prokopiv. Father Mykola Buryadnyk delivered a welcoming speech, emphasizing the importance of involving children and youth in ethnographic projects. Video messages from famous Ukrainian artists were also presented, including Oksana Mukha, NAVKA, Oleksiy Hnatkovsky, Myroslava Polatayko, Volodymyr Pushkar, Vasyl Melnykovych (“Hutsul-hooligan”) and Marichka Burmaka.
The event ended with a tribute to the memory of the People's Artist of Ukraine Stepan Giga, who passed away the day before. His quote was heard: “I loved you all, but I loved Ukraine most of all…”.
Background
The 2026 Ethnocalendar is a non-profit project. The publication was sponsored by the Selfreliance Association and the MEEST-Karpaty postal and logistics company. The calendar has a print run of 400 copies, the cost of one is $35. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Heroes Protection Fund at the St. Joseph the Betrothed Parish and the Protez Foundation charitable foundation.
Photo: Radio UA Chicago / Surma Newspaper.
Author: Danylo Pievchev