Sunflowers and The Mighty Women of Ukraine
How this plant of peace became their symbol of resistance.
I am in awe of the fighting women of Ukraine. They took their national symbol of peace, the sunflower, and transformed it into a symbol of resistance.
Many of these women warriors are battling with guns and tactical maneuvers. Other women are taking their children into other battlegrounds. They are facing new cultures and languages.
In the middle of it all, they are planting sunflower seeds, wearing sunflower crowns, and placing them on their helmets. Showing they are stronger together in their show of defiance.
Let’s take a dive into the origins of the Ukrainian sunflower, how they became an emblem of peace, and then resistance.
The Sunflower’s Journey to Ukraine
Evidence suggests that Native Americans cultivated sunflowers over 3000 BC., in present-day Arizona and New Mexico. Sunflowers served multiple uses, such as flour for cakes, eating the seeds, and using the oil for making bread.
Around 1500 AD, Spanish explorers introduced sunflowers to Europe. They were considered ornamental but were developed for medicinal uses. However, Ukraine has been growing sunflowers since the 1700s.
Sunflower oil became an important aspect of daily life because the Church didn’t ban it during Lent, like other oils. Today, the flower helps fuel the nation’s economy. Combined, Ukraine and Russia supply up to 70–80% of the world’s sunflower oil exports.
Sunflowers for Peace
Ukraine used the sunflower as a symbol of peace throughout its history. In June 1996, to celebrate Ukraine’s disarmament of nuclear weapons, U.S., Russian and Ukrainian defense ministers planted sunflowers in a ceremony at southern Ukraine’s Pervomaysk missile base. The Washington Post reported:
The ceremony celebrated Ukraine’s abandonment of the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, which it inherited in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. It also marked the near completion of a primary U.S. strategic goal since the Soviet breakup: to gather all ex-Soviet nuclear weapons in Russia, thus avoiding a proliferation…
