Intricately decorated, exquisitely colored pysanky--Ukrainian Easter eggs--are symbolic treasures. The designs and techniques date back thousands of years, to long before the time of Christ. Wherever Ukrainian communities exist, pysanky-making flourishes with more popularity than ever--particularly this year, which marks a millennium since St. Vladimir converted in Kiev in 988 and established Byzantine Christianity among the Ukrainians. These brilliantly embellished eggs are tokens or love and symbols of history, rebirth, and renewed ethnic identity.
In the United States, this hallowed custom emanates from St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, where early Ukrainian immigrants settled the harsh lands during the nineteenth century. Amid the great economic hardship of pioneer life, it was often difficult for impoverished immigrants to buy the materials necessary to decorate the eggs. Some people even stopped making pysanky altogether for many years, but enough continued to keep the custom alive. In the past few decades, accompanying a resurgence of interest in the Ukrainian ethnic heritage, many people have resumed the tradition.
Maria Procai recalls being desperately homesick as her first Easter in America approached in the early 1910s. She was only fifteen years old at the time but she remembered what her mother and grandmother had taught her in Sokal, Ukraine. She improvised a tool from the metal tip of a shoelace. She bought crepe paper from the drugstore for the dye and soaked out the colors in boiling water. The results were crude but encouraging. In time, she acquired better materials, dyes and proper tools, and began getting orders from shops and department stores. She established a gift ship in Minneapolis that eventually began to receive orders from all over the world. The successful business continues to thrive under the management of her daughters.
Today the Ukrianian-American cultural community is networked across the nation. Ukrainian banduras, dancing, singing, and extraordinary embroidery work are well known and highly respected. Long lines of Americans from all walks of life crowd Ukrainian bazaars and concerts, which are usually held for the benefit of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, for the education of children, or for assistance to the poor or elderly. But of all Ukrainian crafts, perhaps the most special are the fragile, breathtaking pysanky.
The word pysanky comes from the word pysaty, which means "to write." The writing tool is called a kistka. As with many ancient art forms, legends concerning the eggs and techniques of decorating them were passing from mother to daughter, from generation to generation. Today, in North America, many men of Ukrainian descent learn and practice this ancient folk art as well.
A pre-Christian Ukrainian tradition
Ukrainians were traditionally an agricultural people. Their homeland has long been referred to as the "breadbasket of Europe." Nearly everything the Ukrainian people did was related to nature and the fertility of their land.
Ancient Ukrainians worshipped the sun, considering it all-powerful. The egg was a symbol of this power. At the end of the cold, dark winter, the ancient Ukrainians decorated eggs to celebrate the return of spring. All early designs featured
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