EuroMaidan has now entered its third week and already the protestors have acquired a distinctive look.
With temperatures just above freezing most protestors are wearing their winter coats to keep their revolutionary passions burning on the inside and Ukrainian flags over those coats to show their patriotism externally.
A Ukrainian flag will set you back Hr 40 and sellers have moved in on the walk to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the center of the protest, to meet the demand.
Unwilling to talk about what brought them to the Maidan to sell flags it seems money and not political activism is their main motivator.
Opposition activists have also been giving out miniature flags, ribbons with the colors of the Ukrainian flag and the stars of the EU flag printed on top, and on one day even balloons.
The most ornate and colorful protest outfits on the Maidan, however, have been exhibited by representatives of the various Cossack organizations.
Roman Bachinsky, 58, came to the Maidan in a traditional papakha hat he made himself and was carrying the flag of his native Slavuta, located in the western Khmelnytskyi region.
“Our (Cossack) organization voted no confidence in President Yanukovych and we came to Kyiv and to the Maidan to have people listen to our voices,” he said.
Mariyan Stepanovich, 49, also came to Kyiv with his Cossack organization from Zhovkva in Western Ukraine near Lviv.
Stepanovich was wearing a red barrette green and black camouflage with patches adorned with Cossack motifs sewn on.
With the cold weather there have been few people wearing the traditional embroidered shirts associated with Ukraine, but Andrei Kalash, 26, was one of the exceptions.
Standing on the cement platform used by cameramen to film the Maidan, the Kyiv native was wearing an embroidered shirt made by a relative in Ivano–Franivsk region while filming a rap music video.
Kalash supports the ousting of Yanukovych, but in his lyrics said it was important that “the West doesn’t laugh at us.”
Vladislava Ponomaryova, 18, at first seemed to be just wearing a Ukrainian flag over her coat while playing soccer, but then revealed that hers had fabric handles sewn on inside that allowed her to hold it in place.
Vladislava is from Kyiv Oblast and has been participating in a student strike at her university in Kyiv. She comes to the Maidan during the day and then goes back to the dormitory to spend the night.
Anya Petrashchuk, 19, was also taking part in a student strike and had come from the National Music Academy in her native Lviv to join protests on the Maidan.
She was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt activists had been handing out with the words “Euro Maidan” on it.
“I really like it,” she said smiling.
