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Today Odessa has become a patriotic capital of Ukraine and set up a new record of vyshyvanka dressed people standing in chain.
Odessa is famous for its own way of celebrating the Independence Day of Ukraine. On 24 of August, as a part of the Vyshyvanka Festival, Odessa locals and guests get together to build a chain connecting the Duke Duke of Richelieu monument standing atop of the Potemkin Steps with the harbour of the Odessa Sea Port.
Last year, despite heavy rain, Odessa set up a record with around 1,400 people. This year (the 7th), anticipating the increased number of participants, the organisers prepared almost 2,500 tags with counting numbers. But to everyone’s surprise this amount was far from being enough: the line of those willing to build a chain seemed to never end. After all the tags were used, the numbers were put right on people’s arms. The chain reached the sea and returned to the monument, meeting there more participants patiently waiting to be registered despite the heat. The final registered number was 3,155, although there were some more people eager to participate.
The Duke of Richelieu participated in the flash mob as well
The governor of the Odessa oblast and ex-president of Gerogia Mikheil Saakashvili was also among participants:
The neverending line of those willing to be registered:
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The participants were of various ages, the youngest was this 3-month lady
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The chain starts on the top of the Potemkin Steps far behind these people
…And continues well ahead
Then the chain gets to the sea and turns back, with people waving when spotting the opposite site:[/vc_column_text][vc_images_carousel images=”11697,11698″ img_size=”large” autoplay=”yes” min_items=”1″ max_items=”1″][vc_column_text]
The organizers of the flash mob hastily fill in extra tags with numbers
When running out of tags, they put numbers right on people’s arms
At some point, Ukrainian soldiers are spotted passing by. People greet them with applause, shouting ‘Glory to heroes!’ and ‘Thank you!’
I was naive to think I was the last to register
In several minutes I will learn there are 53 more persons registered after me setting up new record of 3155
To mark the new record and the Independence Day of Ukraine, participants sang the national anthem
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Aleksandra Demskaya, EMPR;
Photos by EMPR and mayak.org.ua.
Check out other Odessa events confined to the Independence Day: commemoration of Ukrainian soldiers fallen in the Russian-Ukrainian war and traditional unfolding of a huge Ukrainian flag on the Potemkin Steps.
Данная публикация также доступна на русском языке.
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Tags: odessa
