(L-R): Inna Yaremenko, Vice-President of LUkraine Asbl; Eric Thill, Luxembourg's Minister for Culture; Credit: Yulia Yamkova

On Saturday 15 June 2024, the festival "Culture Boom in Rotondes" took place in Luxembourg-Bonnevoie as part of the month-long UA Days events honouring Ukrainian traditions in Luxembourg.

Located at the Rotondes cultural centre in Bonnevoie, the event offered various forms of entertainment for participants of all ages. The children were captivated by face painting and crafts in the Kids Zone while the adults could participate in a tombola and visit the tattoo station featuring Ukrainian designs. The food truck sold many favourite traditional Ukrainian dishes such as varenyky and borscht, as well as cherry liqueur and honey cake medovyk.

The Ukrainian craft market sold national clothing vyshyvanka, books of different genres and jewellery. The festival's merchandise could also be found for purchase, as well as Jacques Schneider's special T-shirt collaboration that was unveiled earlier this month. The Luxembourgish artist, this year's UA Days ambassador, visited later in the day to enjoy the festivities.

Chronicle.lu talked with Luxembourg's Minister for Culture, Eric Thill, who visited the festival. He spoke about the importance of cultural exchange of ideas and values between Luxembourg and Ukraine in addition to local efforts to promote a lasting bond between the countries. For more, see: https://chronicle.lu/category/culture/50227-minister-eric-thill-addresses-cultural-exchange-with-ukrainian-community

In the evening, the festival presented various Ukrainian short films inside the cultural centre which were free for visitors to enjoy. There was also a virtual reality (VR) station that allowed individuals to immerse themselves into the sad reality of destroyed Ukrainian cities using special VR technology. The evening ended with performances from Luxembourgish band Deep Dive Culture and Ukrainian pop-rock group IZZI.

All proceeds raised throughout UA Days go to LUkraine asbl's efforts to help evacuate families from the Donetsk region deeply overwhelmed by the ongoing war.