On 28 June 1914, an enormous celebration marking the 100-year anniversary of Taras Shevchenko's birthday – "Shevchenkivskyi Jam" – took place in Lviv. This event occurred with the participation of Ukrainian paramilitary organizations "Sokil-Batko", "Ukrainskyi Sichovyi Soyuz", the sporting organization "Ukraina" and scouts. The organizers planned that the event would be evidence of the organizational and physical preparedness of Ukrainians in Halychyna in the event of a future war, against a backdrop of growing Ukrainian-Polish tensions. In an announcement in the newspaper "Dilo" on 15 June 1914, the jam was compared to ancient sporting games and that this event was to become proof of the force of the Ukrainian movement, its readiness to battle and victory. The organizing committee called on Lviv's Ukrainians to decorate the windows of their residences with blue and yellow ribbons and portraits of Taras Shevchenko. Not only would delegations of Ukrainian societies in the region be in Lviv during the celebration, but representatives from Bukovyna, those that inhabited the shores of the Dnipro River, as well as the empire's national Czech and Croatian societies would also attend. It was important to show everyone that Ukrainians in Lviv were not an insignificant colony, but occupied an important place.
The day before the jam, in various cities throughout the region, including in Lviv, celebrations marking the 100-year anniversary of Taras Shevchenko's birth took place. Within the framework of the events, concerts were held, as well as festive marches of Ukrainian societies and organizations. Participants of the gathering, loyal to the Austrian authority, determined Russian self-determination was the principle enemy of the Ukrainian liberation movement, and noted within this context the importance of Ukrainian paramilitary and sporting organizations in Halychyna.
Itinerary
From the "Ukrainskyi horod" along the streets of Hvardiiska (formerly Kadetska), Kopernyka, Slovatskoho, Sichovykh Striltsiv (formerly 3 Maia), Hnatiuka (formerly Jagełłońska), Prospect Svobody (formerly Karolia Liudviga), Lesi Ukrainky (formerly Skarbkivska), Krakivska and through the Ploscha Rynok, the participants went on to Halytska Street, Ploscha Halytska, Prospect Shevchenka (formerly Akademichna Street), Drahomanova Street (formerly Mohnatskoho), where opposite from the National Museum a bust of Taras Shevchenko was erected and adorned in green, Kotsiubynskoho (formerly Sypinskoho), a section of today's Ivan Franko Street from the beginning of Zelena to the beginning of Stryiska Street (formerly Zyblikevycha), onto Stryiska.
In the announcement that was placed in "Dilo" on 24 June 1914, the organizers called on amateur photographers to occupy places on balconies in advance in order to optimally photograph a large number of people. The march was headed by the leader of "Sokola-Batka" I. Boberskyi and the hetman of the "Ukrainskyi Sichovyi Soyuz", Dr. K. Trylovskyi. At the head of the procession was a column of "Sokola-Batka" (the first in line were dismounted pedestrians, and behind them, the cavalry), and further (in the following order) were scouts and members of "UCC." The majority of march participants were dressed in the uniforms of their organization; some organization leaders rode horses and were dressed in Cossack clothing and held maces and so-called "pirnach," weapons which indicated a colonel's authority. In all, according to "Dilo," 12,303 people participated in the march.
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List of Used Sources and Literature:
- History of Lviv // NANU, I. P. Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies. - V.2 – Lviv: "Centr Evropy", 2007.
- Dilo, 1914 (# 130, 135, 136, 138,139, 140, 141, 142)
- Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies (in 10 volumes) / Chief editor Volodymyr Kubiiovych. — Paris, New York: "Molode Zhyttia", 1954—1989.
- Yakymovych B. "Hey, "Sich" ide, krasen mak tsvite...". - Lviv: Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, 2000. – 52 pg.: ill.
- Melnyk, B.V. Handbook of Renamed Streets and Squares in Lviv. Thirteenth to Twentieth Centuries. – Lviv: "Svit", 2001.
- Tovarysh, 1914 (№ 20-21, 18.07.1914)
- TsDAU, f. 312, opys 1, sprava 63: Zvernennia, povidomlennia, lysty ta inshi materialy pro vshanyvannia yuvileinoho Shevchenkivskoho zizdu sokoliv u Lvovi. 19 ark.
