Catholic Pilgrimage via Aleteia | Ukrainian Easter eggs: giving a reminder of the triumph of the Cross at the right time. Psyanka, a Ukrainian tradition of decorating Easter eggs with intricate designs, is a way to remember the Passion of Christ and the hope that his suffering gave people.
The traditional Ukrainian Easter egg, known as a pysanka, is a work of art. It is bright and colorful in its multi-colored splendor.
In order to make one, you have to work for days or even weeks at a time. The end result can be just as beautiful as a Faberge egg.
The last week of Lent is when many Ukrainians make these works of art. This is when there is peace in the country. As many people have had to flee their country because of the Russian invasion, the tradition of decorating eggs is one more thing they have had to give up.
This Easter, people all over the world, in support of Ukraine, will bring the tradition of pysanka into their own homes, as well. Everybody can think of Christ’s death and resurrection as a source of hope. The eggs are a beautiful reminder of that.
There are many words that start with “to write,” which is why the word pysanka means “to write.” The egg is written on to make its design. People used to make pysanky while their children were asleep. This is how it was done in the past. During prayers for the people who were going to get the egg, lines were drawn on the ground. Each line had a specific goal.
People who make pysanky can show solidarity with Ukraine by making them as a form of prayer. We want people who are good at art to write their own Pysankas for people who can’t write their own. What to pray while you write: Pope Francis gave us a prayer for Ukraine on Ash Wednesday.
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
Open our eyes and our hearts,
and give us the courage to say:
“Never again war!”;
“With war everything is lost.”
Instill in our hearts the courage
to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope,
so that with patience and perseverance
we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation.
In this way may peace triumph at last.
Amen.
The way things work
The first step is to draw a design on the egg, which is usually split into 16 parts. These lines are then redrawn with beeswax, with the help of a tool called a kystka. When you use this stylus, you can hold the wax in a reservoir and apply it with a funnel.
The wax protects the color underneath, so the artist can dip the egg into different colors without having to lose any of the previous work. The pysanka gets more complicated as it goes on, with more lines drawn after each dip. There will be a different color for each of the additions by the end of the project.
From light to dark, the colors are put on one by one, with the eggshell’s white being the lightest and a dark red or black being the last. This is how it usually looks. In pysanky writing, the color red has a religious meaning. It stands for the divine love and passion of Christ, hope, fire, and the work of the church, among other things.
There are a lot of dark colors that make light colors stand out, which is why the beeswax is so good at hiding them. When you make a pysanky, the shell is removed so that the art can last for years to come.
Make your own thing.
Larissa Poho, an artist, shows people how to write on paper with the pysanka method in the video below. Poho gives a quick rundown of all the materials and tools you’ll need to make one, while also making one herself. The way she acts makes it easier for people to feel more confident about what can seem like a big task. It doesn’t matter if she makes a few mistakes herself, because she wants to show people that it’s not the end of the world.
https://youtu.be/ueIWiFXU7Zk
