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Lizhnyks are blankets made from sheep’s wool. There is a loom in almost every home in Yavoriv village.
Hanna Kopilchuk has been a professional weaver for over four decades, carrying on the craft she learned from her mother and grandmother. She says that it is everything to her, her entire life.
It is an intricate process. The process of making a lizhnyk consists of around 20 stages, from trimming sheep every spring to washing ready blankets in the mountain river.
“When the wool is trimmed, washed, dried, combed and when the wool is at home, it seems like half the work is done, but the second part is left. The wool has to be spun, for example five kilos of wool is needed for a double size lizhnyk. Then it has to be put into rolls and start weaving. If lizhnyk has the same natural colors as sheep it’s called self-made, but for other colors the threads have to be dyed. So we spin, then make such kind of roll and dye it,” Kopilchuk said.
The word “lizhnyk” comes from the from Ukrainian word “lezhaty” meaning “to lie down.” Many residents of Yavoriv still sleep on woolen blankets and cover themselves with them just as their ancestors did.
“The first lizhnyks were narrow and long up to 4 to 5 meters, because the looms were narrow too. It has been put onto a bench, people lay down on it and cover themselves by it. I want to stress that one sheep’s wool was used to weave them, it’s organic,” said Vasyl Losyuk, director of the folk arts center Gutsul Grazhda.
A craftswoman uses looms that are up to a century old, but in general the techniques of weaving has remained unchanged for centuries.
School teacher Maria Rebchuk says it is important to pass handicrafts onto the next generation of artisans.
“We try to involve children into studying lizhnyks handicraft because this is a tradition of our past generations, and our village Yavoriv is one of the villages in Ukraine where the craft of making lizhnyks has being preserved until nowadays,” she says.
Here, school girls are taught how to weave as part of the curriculum.
Traditionally lizhnyks are blankets, but one younger designer is using the material to make clothes.
“We weave simple warm coats for everyday wear. It can be grey, white, without complicated ornaments. Our clients order also kinds of festive and elegant coats to wear on special occasions, for example for going to church. Also, we can weave a long modern coat or cardigan with or without sleeves, better without sleeves, then it’s comfortable for walking in the mountains or in the city,” said Natalia Kischuk, a fashion designer.
This region of the Carpathian mountains plans to apply to UNESCO to recognize lizhnyk as a cultural world heritage.
