pysanka (Egg)

Pysanka (decorated eggs) are a traditional folk art with pre-Christian roots. Eggs in early times were associated with sun worship, with the yolk representing the sun, and whites the moon. Eggs were used to greet the Spring. Greeting the Spring is still important, however. Easter is their most important association. These eggs are considered benevolent talisman. Children receive light coloured eggs with floral designs. Teenagers are given eggs with blank spaces to represent lives yet to be lived. Married couples receive 40 triangle eggs representing all aspects of their lives together. Older persons are given eggs with black belts, ladders and gates representing heavenly bridges. The eggs are made at night by gatherings of mentally and physically purified women. They are given and exchanged in many contexts.

From the Mykhalylo Huculak Hutzulian Folk Art Collection. They are made by resist dying with bees wax applied in various layers and melted off.

ritual; folk art

The decorations on pysanka eggs symbolize hope, happiness and protection from evil. When a women is in the process of making the egg, goodness is said to be transferred to the design and to the household. This design is 'memeluku' meaning butterflies.

Easter egg with black background, sectioned into eight. Each eighth has two yellow crosshatched tri-lobed abstract designs with a green triangle at centre. All are connected with white lines, sectioning off egg. There are black negative spaces in four places, in the shape of a star. There are eight green dots in between were the centre lines meet, and at each end. The egg is hollow and fragile. There is a tiny hole in one end.