When you are thousands of kilometers from home, staying connected to your culture can take on a special meaning. Familiar traditions can create a sense of belonging and keep us connected to the people, places and memories that shape who we are.
Four years ago, HUG held its first Easter celebration at Sjömanskyrkan. Since then, the tradition has grown alongside the Ukrainian community in Gothenburg, bringing people together each year around familiar customs, food, music and the simple joy of celebrating Easter together.
On March 28, we gathered once again for a warm pre-Easter celebration filled with Ukrainian traditions and a strong sense of community.
We began the day with pysankarstvo - the Ukrainian art of creating pysanky, decorated Easter eggs with symbolic patterns and colours.
Making a traditional pysanka is a careful, layered process. Patterns are drawn onto an egg with melted beeswax, followed by successive layers of colour. Once the design is complete, the wax is removed to reveal the finished pattern. The symbols and colours carry different meanings, making each pysanka a small expression of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
Families and children joined the workshop, while young people and adults had the opportunity to try the traditional technique themselves. For many participants, it was a chance to reconnect with a familiar part of Ukrainian culture and experience it together with others.
For children growing up in Sweden, activities like these offer a hands-on way to discover the traditions that are part of their family and cultural heritage.
The celebration continued with Easter quests and games for children, Ukrainian songs, spring songs and haiivky - traditional dances and games associated with the spring and Easter season.
Ukrainian coffee and traditional food added familiar tastes and warmth to the day. Together, these small details created something that can be difficult to find when you are far from home: a feeling of familiarity and belonging.
That is what makes cultural traditions so meaningful. They are not only memories of a place we have left behind. When we gather to sing, cook, create and celebrate them together, they become part of our lives here in Sweden too.
The Easter celebration also marked the beginning of HUG’s annual fundraising for children’s summer camps in Ukraine and Sweden. Guests could support the initiative through donations and a lottery, as well as by purchasing Easter gifts and handmade items from our friends at Remeslo.
Four years after the first gathering, this Easter tradition continues to grow with our community. Every celebration gives us another opportunity to connect with Ukrainian culture, share it with others and create a little more of that feeling of home here in Sweden.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this day possible, and to everyone who continues to celebrate and share Ukrainian traditions with us. We HUG you! 💛💙
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