Pysanky is an ancient and beautiful form of folk art from the Ukraine.
The art of the decorated egg, or the pysanka (from the Ukrainian verb pysaty, to write), dates back to pagan times, around 4,000 B.C. Folk tales reveal that the people who lived in the region now known as Ukraine worshipped the sun. It warmed the earth and thus, was a source of all life. Eggs decorated with nature symbols were chosen for sun worship ceremonies and became an integral part of spring rituals, serving as benevolent talismans.
With the acceptance of Christianity in 988, the decorated pysanka (plural - pysanky) continued to play an important role in Ukrainian rituals of the new religion. Many symbols of the old sun worship survived and were adapted to represent Easter and Christ's Resurrection.
A pagan legend maintains that the sun god was the most important of all the deities; birds were the sun god's chosen creations for they were the only ones who could get near him. Humans could not catch the birds, but they did manage to obtain the eggs the birds laid. Thus, the eggs were magical objects, a source of life.
The Hutsuls - Ukrainians who live in the Carpathian Mountains of Western
Ukraine - believe that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka. As
long as the egg decorating custom continues, the world will exist. If, for
any reason, this custom is abandoned, evil - in the shape of a horrible serpent
who is forever chained to a cliff - will overrun the world. Each year the
serpent sends out his minions to see how many pysanky have been created.
If the number is low, the serpent's chains are loosened and he is free to
wander the earth causing havoc and destruction. If, on the other hand, the
number of pysanky has increased, the chains are tightened and good triumphs
over evil for yet another year.
Superstitions
Superstitions
were attached to the colors and designs on the pysanky, according to Sofika
Zielyk. One old Ukrainian myth centered on the wisdom of giving older
people gifts of pysanky with darker colors and/or rich designs, for their
life has already been filled. Similarly, it is appropriate to give
young people pysanky with white as the predominant color because their life
is still a blank page.
Another Ukrainian superstition insists that girls should never give their boyfriends pysanky that have no design on the top and bottom of the egg, explains Sofika Zielyk; the baldness on either end signifies that the boyfriend will soon lose his hair.
It's not hard to learn to decorate eggs using beeswax and dyes.
This art is most popular in a Ukrainian household near Eastertime when eggs
are created as gifts for family and friends.
Hot wax is applied to the egg using a kistka. The kistka is a tool whereby
hot wax can be essentially drawn onto the egg. Kistkas can be purchased,
or built by the user. Some are simply a stick with wire holding a tiny stick
perpendicular at the end of the larger piece. This type of kistka is dipped
in hot wax. Another type is a copper or brass cone attached to the end of
a stick. Wax is then placed in the cone. The cone is heated until the wax
melts and flows out the end of the cone. An electric version of the kistka
is also available.
The design begins by drawing on a plain white egg with hot beeswax. These lines will protect the white when egg is dyed. When the designs to be white are complete, the egg is dipped into yellow dye and then dried. The kistka is used to draw the designs to remain yellow and then the egg is dipped into the next dye bath. The process continues, alternating waxing designs and using dyes that progressively get darker. The most popular pysanky, end with the black dye. Once the black dye is dry, hold the egg over the side of a candle flame and gently continue to wipe off the melted wax revealing the beautifully designed multicolored egg. Do not hold the egg over the top of the candle as it will collect a dark carbon difficult to remove. The final process is to seal the egg with a coating of shellac or varnish. A small board with three nail groupings that may hold suspended eggs is an ideal drying tool.
Here are the meanings to some of the symbols depicted
on the eggs.
Over the centuries, various symbols on the pysanky took on different meanings.
Symbols on a pysanka [created using a batik (wax-dye) method] include wheat,
which signifies health; flowers and birds, which stand for happiness and
spring; the triangle, which in pagan times meant air, fire, water and, in
Christian times, took on a meaning of the Holy Trinity. Hens and chickens
symbolize fertility, roosters are identified with masculinity and strength,
as are oak leaves. Deer are symbols of strength, prosperity, and Christianity;
infinite lines signify eternity.
Wheat asks for a bountiful harvest.
Any form of the cross signifies the Resurrection of Christ, death and suffering.
Animals, mostly deer, dignify prosperity. The animals are usually those found
in and near the Carpathian Mountains.
Dots depict stars and Mary's tears.
The fish is the sign of Christ.
Before the Ukrainians accepted Christianity the eight pointed star was a
symbol of the sungod. Later the star would represent Christ.
The Trinity is represented by a triangle.
Netting signifies Christ fishing with men.
Designs circling the egg, with no beginning or end signifies eternity.
Pysanky are whole, raw eggs which have been decorated with a complicated wax-resist method whereby one draws (or "writes," as Ukrainians would say) those portions of the design one wishes to be white with melted wax on the plain, white egg. A small, hollow funnel attached to a stick is often used to heat the wax and write with. This tool is called a kistka. One then dips the egg in a light colored dye - yellow, for instance - and writes those designs that are intended to be yellow. Another, darker dye bath is followed by more writing, and so on till the entire design in its several colors is on the egg. One then heats the egg, often in the flame of a candle, and wipes the melted wax off it. This is the finished pysanka.
Pysanky are typically made to be given to family members and respected outsiders. To give a pysanka is to give a symbolic gift of life, which is why the egg must remain entire. Furthermore, each of the designs and colors on the pysanka is likely to have a deep, symbolic meaning. Traditionally, pysanky designs are chosen to match the character of the person to whom the pysanka is to be given.
Pysanka are traditionally made during the last week of Lent, Holy Week in the Catholic and Orthodox calendars. (Both faiths are represented in Ukraine.) They are then taken to the church on Easter Sunday to be blessed, after which they are given away. Typically, pysanky are displayed prominently in a public room of the house. Many Ukrainian-American families of my acquaintance keep their pysanky, some of which may be as much as thirty years old, made by persons now deceased, in an oversized brandy snifter in the living room.
Pysanky carry deep layers of religious meaning for Ukrainians, many of whom believe that every time a woman makes a pysanka, the devil is pushed farther down into captivity, and, conversely, that when the last woman to make pysanky stops doing so, evil will reign triumphant in the world.
But in this century they have come to mean something more among Ukrainian immigrants in North America. Because the U. S. S. R. was an officially atheistic state, pysanka writing, with its layers of specifically Christian meaning, was at the least discouraged. Pysanky, therefore, became for many Ukrainian-Americans a symbol of their longing for a free, independent Ukraine - a longing that has been gratified in recent years. One Tucson Ukrainian-American, the late Mrs. Alexander Romanenko, returned to Ukraine and taught pysanky-writing in her last years.
Instruction books in Ukrainian and English and psyanka-related supplies
are easy to find in Manhattan, which has a large, tightly-knit Ukrainian
community. The Manhattan area code is [212].
Contact:
Ukrainian Arts: 48 East 7th St., NYC: 473-3550
Ukrainian Museum: 203 Second Avenue, NYC: 228 - 0110
Ukrainian National Women's League of America:
108 Second Avenue, NYC: 533-4646; N.Y. Regional Council:
228-4476
Ukrainian Institute of America: 2 East 79th St., NYC: 288-8660
The Decorated Easter Egg
The egg is nature's perfect package. It has, during the span of history, represented mystery, magic, medicine, food and omen. It is the universal symbol of Easter celebrations throughout the world and has been dyed, painted, adorned and embellished in the celebration of its special symbolism.
Before the egg became closely entwined with the Christian Easter, it was honored during many rite-of-Spring festivals. The Romans, Gauls, Chinese, Egyptians and Persians all cherished the egg as a symbol of the universe. From ancient times eggs were dyed, exchanged and shown reverence.
In Pagan times the egg represented the rebirth of the earth. The long, hard winter was over; the earth burst forth and was reborn just as the egg miraculously burst forth with life. The egg, therefore, was believed to have special powers. It was buried under the foundations of buildings to ward off evil; pregnant young Roman women carried an egg on their persons to foretell the sex of their unborn children; French brides stepped upon an egg before crossing the threshold of their new homes.
With the advent of Chrisianity the symbolism of the egg changed to represent, not nature's rebirth, but the rebirth of man. Christians embraced the egg symbol and likened it to the tomb from which Christ rose.
Old Polish legends blended folklore and Christian beliefs and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration. One legend concerns the Virgin Mary. It tells of the time Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross. She entreated them to be less cruel and she wept. The tears of Mary fell upon the eggs, spotting them with dots of brilliant color.
Another Polish legend tells of when Mary Magdalen went to the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus. She had with her a basket of eggs to serve as a repast. When she arrived at the sepulchre and uncovered the eggs, the pure white shells had miraculously taken on a rainbow of colors.
Decorating and coloring eggs for Easter was the custom in England during the middle ages. The household accounts of Edward I, for the year 1290, recorded an expenditure of eighteen pence for four hundred and fifty eggs to be gold-leafed and colored for Easter gifts.
The most famous decorated Easter eggs were those made by the well-known
goldsmith, Peter Carl Faberge. In 1883 the Russian Czar, Alexander, commissioned
Faberge to make a special Easter gift for his wife, the Empress Marie. The
first Faberge egg was an egg within an egg. It had an outside shell of platinum
and enameled white which opened to reveal a smaller gold egg. The smaller
egg, in turn, opened to display a golden chicken and a jeweled replica of
the Imperial crown. This special Faberge egg so delighted the Czarina that
the Czar promptly ordered the Faberge firm to design further eggs
to be delivered every Easter. In later years Nicholas II, Alexander's
son, continued the custom.
Fifty-seven eggs were made in all.
Ornamental egg designers believe in the symbolism of the egg and celebrate the egg by decorating it with superb artistry. Some use flowers and leaves from greeting cards, tiny cherubs, jewels and elegant fabrics, braids and trims, to adorn the eggs. They are separated, delicately hinged and glued with epoxy and transparent cement, then when completed, they are covered with a glossy resin finish. Although the omens and the mystery of the egg have disappeared today, the symbolism remains, and artists continue in the old world tradition of adorning eggs.
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