How To Make Decorative Egg Shells With Horse Pictures

Egg decorating tradition in Slavic countries

A mix of modernistic, diasporan and traditional Ukrainian pysanky

A pysanka (Ukrainian: писанка, plural: pysanky) is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional folk designs using a wax-resist method. The word pysanka comes from the verb pysaty, "to write" or "to inscribe," every bit the designs are written (inscribed) with beeswax, non painted.

Many other Fundamental and Eastern European indigenous groups decorate eggs using wax resist for Easter. These include the Belarusians (пісанка, pisanka), Bulgarians (писано яйце, pisano yaytse), Carpatho-Rusyns (писанкы, pysankŷ), Croats (pisanica), Czechs (kraslice), Hungarians (hímestojás), Lithuanians (margutis), Poles (pisanka), Romanians (ouă vopsite, încondeiate or împistrite), Serbs (pisanica), Slovaks (kraslica), Slovenes (pirhi, pisanice, or remenke) and Sorbs (jejka pisać).

Types of busy Ukrainian eggs [edit]

Pysanka is oftentimes taken to hateful whatever type of busy egg, just it specifically refers to an egg created by the written-wax batik method and utilizing traditional folk motifs and designs. Several other types of decorated eggs are seen in Ukrainian tradition, and these vary throughout the regions of Ukraine.

• Krashanky — from krasyty (красити), "to decorate" — are boiled eggs dyed a unmarried color (with vegetable dyes, traditionally onion skin), and are blessed and eaten at Easter.
• Pysanky — from pysaty (писати), "to write" — are raw eggs created with the wax-resist method (Resist dyeing). The designs are "written" in hot wax with a pinhead or a special stylus called a pysachok (писачок) or a kistka (кістка) which has a small funnel attached to hold a pocket-sized corporeality of liquid wax. The word that is used to draw the egg actually comes from the Ukrainian verb pysaty, which means "to write". Wooden eggs and beaded eggs are often referred to every bit "pysanky" because they mimic the decorative style of pysanky in a dissimilar medium.
• Krapanky — from krapka (крапка), "a dot" — are raw eggs busy using the wax-resist method, but with just dots as ornamentation (no symbols or other drawings). They are traditionally created by dripping molten wax from a beeswax candle onto an egg. They can be considered the simplest version of a pysanka, or a "proto-pysanka".
• Driapanky — from driapaty (дряпати), "to scratch"– are created by scratching the surface of a dyed egg to reveal the white shell below.
• Maliovanky – from maliuvaty (малювати), "to pigment"– are created by painting a blueprint with a brush using oil or water color paints. It is sometimes used to refer to coloring (eastward.k. with a marker) on an egg.
• Nakleianky — from kleity (клеїти), "to glue on" — are created by glueing objects to the surface of an egg.
• Travlenky — from travlennia (травлення), "carving" – are created past waxing eggs and so etching away the unwaxed areas.
• Biserky — from biser (бісер), "beads" — are created by blanket an egg with beeswax, and then embedding beads into the wax to create geometric designs.
• Lystovky — from lystia (листя), "leaves" — are created by dyeing an egg to which pocket-sized leaves have been attached.

All but the krashanky and lystovky are unremarkably meant to be decorative (as opposed to edible), and the egg yolk and white are either immune to dry up over fourth dimension or (in modern times) removed by bravado them out through a small hole in the egg.

In recent years, new forms of egg ornamentation have been brought from abroad and become popularized in Ukraine. These include:

• Rizblenky — from rizbyty (різьбити), "to cut, to carve" — are created by drilling the surface of an egg to create cut out areas.
• Linyvky — from linyvyi (лінивий), "lazy" — a joking term to describe eggs decorated using stickers or compress-wrap sleeves.

History [edit]

According to many scholars, the art of wax-resist (batik) egg decoration in Slavic cultures probably dates dorsum to the pre-Christian era. They base this on the widespread nature of the practice, and pre-Christian nature of the symbols used.^[ane] No aboriginal examples of intact pysanky exist, as the eggshells of domesticated fowl are frail, only fragments of colored shells with wax-resist ornamentation on them were unearthed during the archaeological excavations in Ostrówek, Poland (nigh the metropolis of Opole), where remnants of a Slavic settlement from the early Piast Era were institute.^[2]

As in many ancient cultures, Ukrainians worshipped a sun god, Dazhboh. The sunday was of import – it warmed the earth and thus was a source of all life. Eggs busy with nature symbols became an integral part of spring rituals, serving as benevolent talismans.

In pre-Christian times, Dazhboh was one of the major deities in the Slavic pantheon; birds were the sun god's chosen creations, for they were the only ones who could get almost him. Humans could not catch the birds, only they did manage to obtain the eggs the birds laid. Thus, the eggs were magical objects, a source of life. The egg was as well honored during rite-of-Spring festivals––it represented the rebirth of the earth. The long, hard winter was over; the earth burst along and was reborn just every bit the egg miraculously burst forth with life. The egg therefore, was believed to have special powers.^[3]

With the advent of Christianity, via a procedure of religious syncretism, the symbolism of the egg was 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.^[4] With the acceptance of Christianity in 988, the decorated pysanka, in time, was adjusted to play an important role in Ukrainian rituals of the new faith.^[five] Many symbols of the old sun worship survived and were adjusted to stand for Easter and Christ'due south Resurrection.^[5]

In modern times, the art of the pysanka was carried away by Ukrainian emigrants to Due north and S America, where the custom took hold, and concurrently banned as a religious do in Ukraine by the Soviet authorities, where information technology was virtually forgotten.^[6] Museum collections were destroyed both by state of war and by Soviet cadres.^[half-dozen] Since Ukrainian Independence in 1991, there has been a rebirth of this folk art in its homeland and a renewal of involvement in the preservation of traditional designs and enquiry into its symbolism and history.

Archæology [edit]

No actual pysanky have been found from Ukraine'south prehistoric periods, as eggshells practice not preserve well. Cultic ceramic eggs take been discovered in excavations near the village of Luka Vrublivets'ka, during excavations of a Trypillian site (5th to 3rd millennium BC). These eggs were ornamented and in the course of торохкальці (torokhkal'tsi; rattles containing a small rock with which to scare evil spirits away).^[seven]

Similarly, no actual pysanky from the Kyivan Rus' period exist, just stone, dirt and bone versions be and take been excavated in many sites throughout Ukraine. Most common are ceramic eggs busy with a horsetail plant (сосонка sosonka) pattern in yellow and bright green against a night groundwork. More than than 70 such eggs have been excavated throughout Ukraine, many of them from graves of children and adults. They are thought to be representations of real decorated eggs.

These ceramic eggs were common in Kyivan Rus' and had a characteristic style. They were slightly smaller than life size (2.5 by four cm, or 1 by 1.half dozen inches) and were created from ruby pinkish clays by the spiral method. The majolica glazed eggs had a brown, dark-green or yellowish background and showed interwoven yellow and green stripes. The eggs were fabricated in large cities like Kyiv and Chernihiv, which had workshops that produced dirt tile and bricks; these tiles (and pysanky) were not just used locally but were exported to Poland and to several Scandinavian and Baltic countries.^[8]

The oldest "real" pysanka was excavated in Lviv in 2013^[9] and was constitute in a rainwater drove system that dates to the 15th or 16th century. The pysanka was written on a goose egg, which was discovered largely intact, and the design is that of a wave pattern. The 2nd oldest known pysanka was excavated in Baturyn in 2008 and dates to the finish of the 17th century. Baturyn was Hetman Mazepa'south capital, and it was razed in 1708 by the armies of Peter I. A complete (just crushed) pysanka was discovered, a chicken egg beat with geometric designs against a blue-gray background.^[10]

[edit]

The Hutsuls—a group of Rusyns who alive in the Carpathian Mountains effectually western Ukraine—believe that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka. Every bit long every bit the egg writing custom continues, the earth will be. If, for any reason, this custom is abased, evil—in the shape of a horrible snake who is forever chained to a cliff—will overrun the world. Each year the serpent sends out his minions to come across how many pysanky have been written. If the number is low the ophidian'south chains are loosened and he is complimentary to wander the world 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 some other year.^[xi]

Newer legends blended folklore and Christian behavior and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration. One fable concerns the Virgin Mary. Information technology tells of the time Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross. She entreated them to be less savage to her son and she wept. The tears of Mary fell upon the eggs, spotting them with dots of brilliant color.

Some other legend tells of when Mary Magdalene 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.

A common legend tells of Simon the peddler, who helped Jesus behave his cantankerous on the way to Calvary. He had left his goods at the side of the road, and, when he returned, the eggs had all turned into intricately decorated pysanky.

Superstitions and folk beliefs [edit]

Many superstitions were attached to pysanky. Pysanky were idea to protect households from evil spirits, catastrophe, lightning and fires. Pysanky with spiral motifs were the most powerful, equally the demons and other unholy creatures would be trapped within the spirals forever. A blest pysanka could be used to notice demons hidden in the night corners of your house.

Pysanky held powerful magic, and had to be disposed of properly, lest a witch get a hold of one. She could use the beat out to gather dew, and use the gathered dew to dry out up a moo-cow'due south milk. The witch could too utilize bits of the eggshell to poke people and sicken them. The eggshell had to be ground up very finely (and fed to chickens to brand them good egg layers) or broken into pieces and tossed into a running stream.

The cloth used to dry pysanky was powerful, too, and could exist used to cure skin diseases. And information technology was considered very bad luck to trample on a pysanka—God would punish anyone who did with a diversity of illnesses.^[12]

There were superstitions regarding the colors and designs on the pysanky. One quondam 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 advisable to give young people pysanky with white as the predominant color because their life is still a bare page. Girls would often give pysanky to young men they fancied, and include heart motifs. Information technology was said, though, that a daughter should never give her boyfriend a pysanky that has no blueprint on the top and bottom of the egg, as this might signify that the boyfriend would soon lose his hair.

Writing pysanky [edit]

An unfinished pysanka fix for the black bath of dye. Information technology bears the Ukrainian Easter greeting: "Christ is risen!"

A variety of styluses, from traditional to modern

Each region, each village, and almost every family had its own special ritual, its ain symbols, meanings and secret formulas for dyeing eggs. These customs were preserved faithfully and passed downwards from female parent to daughter through generations. The custom of decorating pysanky was observed with greatest care, and a pysanka, after receiving the Easter blessing, was held to take great powers as a talisman.

Pysanky were traditionally made during the concluding week of Lent, Holy Week in the Orthodox and Greek (Uniate) Catholic calendars. (Both faiths are represented in Ukraine, and both still gloat Easter by the Julian calendar.) They were fabricated by the women of the family. During the centre of the Lenten season, women began putting bated eggs, those that were most perfectly shaped and smooth, and ideally, the first laid eggs of young hens. There had to exist a rooster, as only fertilized eggs could be used. (If non-fertile eggs were used, in that location would exist no fertility in the abode.)

The dyes were prepared from dried plants, roots, bark, berries and insects (cochineal). Yellow was obtained from the flowers of the woadwaxen, and golden from onion skins. Red could be extracted from logwood or cochineal, and dark light-green and violet from the husks of sunflower seeds and the berries and bark of the elder bush. Black dye was made from walnut husks. The dyes were prepared in secret, using recipes handed down from mother to daughter. Sometimes chemical dyes (of unusual or difficult colors) were purchased from peddlers along with alum, a mordant that helped the natural dyes attach improve to eggshells.

A stylus, known as a pysachok, pysak, pysal'tse, or kystka (kistka), depending on region, was prepared. A piece of thin brass was wrapped around a needle, forming a hollow cone. This was fastened to a small stick (willow was preferred) with wire or horsehair. In the Lemko regions, a simple pin or nail inserted onto the end of a stick was used instead (drop-pull technique).

The pysanky were made at dark, when the children were asleep. The women in the family gathered together, said the advisable prayers, and went to piece of work. Information technology was done in secret—the patterns and colour combinations were handed down from mother to girl and advisedly guarded.

Pysanky were made using a wax resist (batik) method. Beeswax was heated in a small bowl on the large family unit stove (піч), and the styluses were dipped into information technology. The molten wax was applied to the white egg with a writing motion; whatever bit of shell covered with wax would exist sealed, and remain white. Then the egg was dyed yellowish, and more wax practical, and then orange, red, regal, black. (The dye sequence was ever light to dark). Bits of shell covered with wax remained that color. After the final colour, usually red, chocolate-brown or black, the wax was removed by heating the egg in the stove and gently wiping off the melted wax, or by briefly dipping the egg into boiling water.^[13]

Boiled eggs were not used, equally pysanky were more often than not written on raw or, less ordinarily, broiled eggs (pecharky). Boiled eggs were dyed red for Easter, using an onion skin dye, and called "krashanky". The number of colors on an egg was usually limited, as natural dyes had very long dyeing times, sometimes hours. Pysanky would be written—and dyed—in batches.

Alternatively, in indigenous Lemko and Boiko areas, likewise every bit Nadsiannia, the drop pull method was also utilized. A pinhead was dipped into molten wax and then practical to the shell of the egg. Simple drops were made, or there was an additional pulling motion, which would create teardrop or comma shapes. These drops were used to create patterns and designs. Dyeing and wax removal proceeded as with traditional pysanky.

Pysanky continue to be made in modernistic times; while many traditional aspects take been preserved, new technologies are in prove. Aniline dyes have largely replaced natural dyes. Styluses are at present made with modern materials. Traditional styluses are still made from brass and wood, but those made with more than mod plastic handles are gaining in popularity. An electrical version of the stylus has been commercially bachelor since the 1970s, with the cone condign a metal reservoir which keeps the melted beeswax at a constant temperature and holds a much larger amount than a traditional stylus. These newer styluses (whether electric or not) also sport machined heads, with sizes or the opening ranging from extra-actress-fine to extra-heavy.

Sharing pysanky [edit]

Pysanky are typically fabricated 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 whole. Furthermore, the design, a combination of the motifs and colors on a traditional folk pysanka, has a deep, symbolic meaning. Traditionally, a pysanka given with its symbolic meaning in mind, be information technology wishes of protection, fecundity, or dearest. Typically, pysanky were displayed prominently in a public room of the firm.

In a large family unit, by Holy Thursday, threescore or more than eggs would accept been completed by the women of the business firm. (The more daughters a family unit had, the more than pysanky would be produced.) The eggs would then be taken to the church on Easter Sunday to be blest, subsequently which they were given abroad. Hither is a partial list of how the pysanky would be used:

1. One or ii would be given to the priest.
2. 3 or 4 were taken to the cemetery and placed on graves of the family.
3. 10 or twenty were given to children or godchildren.
4. Ten or twelve were exchanged by the unmarried girls with the eligible men in the community.
5. Several were saved to place in the coffin of loved ones who might dice during the year.
6. Several were saved to proceed in the home for protection from fire, lightning and storms.
7. Two or three were placed in the mangers of cows and horses to ensure condom calving and colting and a practiced milk supply for the young.
8. At least 1 egg was placed beneath the bee hive to ensure expert production of honey.
9. I was saved for each grazing animal to be taken out to the fields with the shepherds in the leap.
10. Several pysanky were placed in the nests of hens to encourage the laying of eggs.

Everyone from the youngest to the oldest received a pysanka for Easter. Young people were given pysanky with vivid designs; dark pysanky were given to older people.

A basin full of pysanky was invariably kept in every home. It served non but equally a colorful display, only likewise as protection from all dangers. Some of the eggs were emptied, and a bird's head made of wax or dough and wings and tail-feathers of folded paper were attached. These "doves" were suspended earlier icons in commemoration of the birth of Christ, when a dove came downwards from heaven and soared over the kid Jesus.

Traditional symbolism in pysanky [edit]

A basket full of Hutsul pysanky

A great variety of ornamental motifs are found on pysanky. Because of the egg'south fragility, few ancient examples of pysanky have survived. However, similar blueprint motifs occur in pottery, woodwork, metalwork, Ukrainian embroidery and other folk arts,^[14] many of which have survived.

The symbols which decorated pysanky underwent a procedure of adaptation over time. In pre-Christian times these symbols imbued an egg with magical powers to ward off evil spirits, blackball winter, guarantee a good harvest and bring a person good luck. Later on 988, when Christianity became the state religion of Ukraine, the estimation of many of the symbols began to change, and the pagan motifs were reinterpreted in a Christian light.

Since the mid-19th century, pysanky take been created more for decorative reasons than for the purposes of magic, peculiarly among the Diaspora, as conventionalities in most such rituals and practices has fallen by the wayside in a more mod, scientific era. Additionally, the Ukrainian diaspora has reinterpreted meanings and created their own new symbols and interpretations of older ones.^[15]

The names and pregnant of various symbols and design elements vary from region to region, and fifty-fifty from village to village. Similar symbols tin have totally different interpretations in different places. There are several yard unlike motifs in Ukrainian folk designs. They can be grouped into several families. Proceed in mind that these talismanic meanings practical to traditional folk pysanky with traditional designs, not to modernistic original creations.

Geometric [edit]

The well-nigh popular pysanka designs are geometric figures. The egg itself is most ofttimes divided by direct lines into squares, triangles and other shapes. These shapes are then filled with other forms and designs. These are as well among the about ancient symbols, with the решето (resheto, sieve) motif dating back to Paleolithic times. Other ancient geometric symbols are agricultural in nature: triangles, which symbolized clouds or rain; quadrilaterals, especially those with a resheto design in them, symbolized a ploughed field; dots stood for seeds.

Geometric symbols used quite commonly on pysanky today. The triangle is said to symbolize the Holy Trinity; in ancient times information technology symbolized other trinities: the elements of air, fire and water, the family (human, woman and child) or the bicycle of life (birth, life, and expiry). Diamonds, a type of quadrilateral, are sometimes said to symbolize noesis. Curls/spirals are aboriginal symbols of the Zmiya/Serpent, and are said to accept a meaning of defense or protection.

The spiral is said to be protective confronting the "нечиста сила"; an evil spirit which happens to enter a house will exist drawn into the spiral and trapped there. Dots, which tin represent seeds, stars or cuckoo birds' eggs (a symbol of jump), are popularly said to be the tears of the blessed Virgin. Hearts are likewise sometimes seen, and, every bit in other cultures, they represent love.

A meander motif on a traditional pysanka

An adaptation of the geometric design is non a symbol per se but a partitioning of the egg called "forty triangles" (actually 48) or "Sorokoklyn (forty wedges)." Its ancient significant is not known, but is ofttimes said to correspond the forty days of lent, the forty martyrs, the forty days that Christ spent in the desert, or the forty life tasks of married couples.

Eternity bands [edit]

Eternity bands or meanders are equanimous of waves, lines or ribbons; such a line is called a "bezkonechnyk." A line without end is said to stand for immortality. Waves, withal, are a h2o symbol, and thus a symbol of the Zmiya/Serpent, the ancient water god. Waves are therefore considered an agricultural symbol, considering information technology is rain that ensures good crops.

Berehynia [edit]

A traditional pysanka with a berehynia motif

The goddess motif is an aboriginal i, and most commonly found in pysanky from Bukovyna, Polissia or Podillia. The berehynia was believed to be the source of life and expiry. On the one paw, she is a life giving mother, the creator of heaven and all living things, and the mistress of heavenly water (rain), upon which the world relies for fertility and fruitfulness. On the other hand, she was the merciless controller of destinies.

The goddess is sometimes depicted with artillery upraised, and the arms vary in number just are always in pairs: 2, 4 or 6. This is like to the appearance of the Christian Oranta. Pysanky with this motif were called "bohyn'ky" (богиньки, petty goddesses) or "zhuchky" (жучки, beetles), the latter because they are similar in appearance to the Cyrillic letter Ж (zh). Sometimes the berehynia has become bathetic, and is represented past a plant—vazon—the tree of life. Her arms go the branches and flowers, and she is firmly rooted in a flowerpot.

The virtually common depiction of the great goddess is a composition containing "kucheri" (curls). The berehynia may be seen perched on a curl, or a curl may exist given wings; the symbol may be doubled, end-to-end. There is commonly a crown on the berehynia'southward caput. These compositions are given the folk names of "queen," "princess," "rooster," "scythe," "drake," or simply "wings."

Christian symbols [edit]

A traditional pysanka with a church motif

The just true traditional Christian symbol, and not one adapted from an before pagan^{[ citation needed ]} one, is the church building. Stylized churches are often constitute on pysanky from Hutsul regions (including parts of Bukovyna). Church parts are normally in threes: three stories/roofs, three towers, three openings (windows, doors). Sometimes only the bell belfry (dzvinytsia) is depicted.

Crosses are fairly common, although most of those plant on traditional pysanky are non Ukrainian (Byzantine) crosses. The crosses most commonly depicted are of the simple "Greek" cantankerous type, with arms of equal lengths. This type of cross predates Christianity, and is a sun symbol (an abstracted representation of the solar bird); it is sometimes combined with the star (ruzha) motif. The "cross crosslet" blazon of cross, one in which the ends of each arm are crossed, is frequently seen, particularly on Hutsul and Bukovynian pysanky.

Other adapted religious symbols include a triangle with a circle in the center, denoting the eye of God, and 1 known as the "hand of god."

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the commercially produced folk pysanky of the Carpathians, especially Kosmach, have begun displaying more Christian symbols. The lower arm of the cross in older designs is often lengthened to appear more than Christian, fifty-fifty if it throws off the symmetry of the design. Crucifixes are sometimes seen. Pysanky are beingness written with depictions of Easter baskets on them, including a paska and candle. White doves, symbols of the Holy Spirit, are also more frequently seen; doves are usually depicted in flight, while other wild birds are traditionally shown perched.

Phytomorphic (establish) motifs [edit]

The most common motifs found on pysanky are those associated with plants and their parts (flowers and fruit). Women who wrote pysanky drew their inspiration from the earth of nature, depicting flowers, trees, fruits, leaves and whole plants in a highly stylized (not realistic) fashion. Such ornaments symbolized the rebirth of nature afterwards winter, and pysanky were written with plant motifs to guarantee a skillful harvest. A about popular floral design is a plant in a vase of standing on its ain, which symbolized the tree of life and was a highly bathetic version of the berehynia (great goddess).

Pysanky created by the mountain people of the Hutsul region of Ukraine oft showed a stylized fir tree branch, a symbol of youth and eternal life. Trees, in general, symbolized strength, renewal, cosmos, growth; as with fauna motifs, the parts (leaves, branches) had the same symbolic pregnant as the whole. The oak tree was a sacred to the ancient god Perun, the most powerful of the pagan Slavic pantheon, and thus oak leaves symbolized strength.

Pussy willow branches are sometimes depicted on pysanky; in Ukraine, the pussy willow replaces the palm foliage on Palm Sunday. This is not a common motif, though, and may be a more recent addition.

2 very pop found motifs on modern diasporan pysanky are poppies and wheat; these motifs are never seen on traditional pysanky, and are purely a mod invention.

Flowers [edit]

A Ukrainian pysanka with a ruzha (eight pointed star) motif

Flowers are a mutual pysanka motif. They tin exist divided into 2 types: specific botanical types, and non-specific.

Specific botanical types include sunflowers, daisies, violets, carnations, periwinkle and lily-of the-valley. These flowers are represented with identifying features that make them recognizable. Carnations will have a serrated border to the petals, the flowers of the lily of the valley will be arrayed along a stem, periwinkle will have three or iv leaves (periwinkle is represented by its leaves, not its flowers, on pysanky).

There are also flower motifs chosen orchids and tulips, simply these are non botanical names. They are actually the names given to fantastical flowers, every bit neither of these flowers was normally institute in Ukraine until modern times. The names reflected the exoticism of the designs.

Traditional Ukrainian pysanka from Bukovyna region, with a vazon motif

Non-specific flowers are much more than common, and consist of the ruzha and others. The ruzha (or rozha) is named after the mallow blossom, although information technology does not resemble i, and is another proper name given to the eight-pointed star motif. A ruzha tin can be full, empty, compound, divided or fifty-fifty crooked. It is a dominicus sign. Other non-specific types oft have hyphenated names: murphy-blossom, strawberry-flower, etc. They are usually simple arrangements of petals, six or more, and bear piddling resemblance to the plant they are named for.

Vazon/Tree of Life [edit]

The "tree of life" motif is widely used in traditional pysanky designs. It can be represented in many ways. Sometimes information technology appears as two deer on either side of a pine tree. More oftentimes it manifests every bit a blossom pot ("vazon"), filled with leaves and flowers. The pot itself is ordinarily a rectangle, triangle or a rhomboid (symbolic of the earth), and is covered with dots (seeds) and dashes (h2o). Many branches grow out of it, in a symmetric fashion, with leaves and flowers. This plant is a berehynia (goddess) symbol, with the branches representing the many artillery of the mother goddess.

Fruit [edit]

Fruit is not a common motif on pysanky, but is sometimes represented. Apples, plums and cherries are depicted on traditional pysanky. Currants and viburnum (kalyna) berries are sometimes seen, also. These motifs are probably related to fecundity. Grapes are seen more often, as they have been transformed from an agricultural motif to a religious one, representing the Holy Communion.

Scevomorphic motifs [edit]

A traditional Ukrainian pysanka with rake motifs

Skeuomorphic designs are the 2d-largest grouping of designs, and are representations of human-made agricultural objects. These symbols are very mutual, as Ukraine was a highly agricultural society, and drew many of its positive images from field and farm. Some of these symbols are related to agronomics; others have older meanings, but were renamed in more recent times based on their appearance.

Mutual symbols include the ladder, symbolizing prayers going up to heaven, and the sieve (resheto), standing for a plowed field, or perhaps the separation of good and evil. Rakes and combs are often depicted; both are meant to invoke a good harvest. Both are rain symbols. The body of the rake (sometimes depicted equally a triangle) is the cloud, and the teeth symbolize pelting drops. (Annotation: these combs are not hair combs, simply agricultural implements, see Harrow (tool).)

Windmills, a variation on the broken cross (swastika) motif, are sun symbols. The movement of the cross echoes the motion of the sun across the heaven.

Zoomorphic (creature) motifs [edit]

Although creature motifs are non as popular as plant motifs, they are nevertheless institute on pysanky, particularly those of the people of the Carpathian Mountains. Brute depicted on pysanky include both wild animals (deer, birds, fish) and domesticated ones (rams, horses, poultry). As with plants, animals were depicted in the abstract, highly stylized, and not with realistic detail.

Horses were popular ornaments because they symbolized strength and endurance, as well as wealth and prosperity. They also had a 2d significant as a sunday symbol: in some versions of heathen mythology, the sunday was drawn across the heaven past the steeds of Dazhboh, the sun god. Similarly, deer designs were fairly mutual equally they were intended to bring prosperity and long life; in other versions of the myth, it was the stag who carried the lord's day across the sky on his antlers. Rams are symbols of leadership, strength, dignity, and perseverance.

Sometime women simply drew parts of animals; these symbols were probably a sort of shorthand, endowed with all the attributes of the animal represented. Ducks' necks, goose feet, rabbits' ears, rams' horns, wolves' teeth, bear claws, and bulls' optics tin all be found on pysanky. One cannot be sure, however, if these symbols were actually meant to represent animals, or were renamed centuries later considering of their appearance.

Birds [edit]

A traditional Ukrainian pysanka with bird motifs

Birds were considered the harbingers of spring, thus they were a commonplace pysanka motif. Birds of all kinds are the messengers of the sun and heaven. Birds are ever shown perched, at rest, never flight (except for swallows and, in more recent times, white doves conveying letters). Roosters are symbols of masculinity, or the coming of dawn, and hens represent fertility.

Birds were nearly always shown in total contour, stylized, but with characteristic features of the species. Fractional representations of some birds––mostly domestic fowl––are often seen on pysanky. Bird parts (optics, feet, beaks, combs, feathers) are said behave the same meaning as the unabridged bird. Thus hen'southward feet represent fertility and the rooster'due south comb signifies masculinity.

Insects [edit]

Insects are only rarely depicted on pysanky. Highly stylized spiders (and occasionally their webs) are the most common on folk pysanky, and symbolize perseverance. Beetles are sometimes seen, but rarely look anything like a beetle. What they practise resemble, somewhat, is the letter Ж, every bit in their Ukrainian name "жучок." Other insects are sometimes seen on modern, diasporan pysanky, most commonly butterflies and bees, simply seem to be a mod innovation. In Onyshchuk'south "Symbolism of the Ukrainian Pysanka" she depicts pysanky with a butterfly motif, merely the original pattern, recorded past Kulzhynsky in 1899, was labeled as being swallows' tails.

Fish [edit]

A traditional Ukrainian pysanka with spirals

The fish, originally a symbol of health, eventually came to symbolize Jesus Christ, the "fisher of men." In former Ukrainian fairy tales, the fish often helped the hero to win his fight with evil. In the Greek alphabet "fish" (ichthys) is an acrostic of "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior," and it became a hole-and-corner symbol used by the early Christians. The fish represents abundance, too as Christian interpretations of baptism, sacrifice, the powers of regeneration, and Christ himself.

Ophidian [edit]

Another ancient symbol is that of the змія or ophidian, the ancient god of water and globe. The serpent could be depicted in several ways: equally an "S" or sigma, as a scroll or spiral, or every bit a wave. When depicted as a sigma, the zmiya often wears a crown. Depictions of the ophidian can exist found on Neolithic Trypillian pottery. The ophidian symbol on a pysanka is said to bring protection from catastrophe. Spirals were peculiarly strong talismans, as an evil spirit, upon entering the house, would be drawn into the spiral and trapped there.

Cosmomorphic motifs [edit]

Traditional pysanka with a swastika (svarha) motif

Among the oldest and most important symbols of pysanky is the sun, and the simplest rendering of the sun is a airtight circle with or without rays. Pysanky from all regions of Ukraine describe an eight-sided star, the most common delineation of the dominicus; this symbol is also chosen a "ruzha." Half-dozen- or 7-sided stars can besides be seen, but much less unremarkably.

The sun tin also appear as a flower or a трилист (three leaf). The swastika, chosen in Ukrainian a "svarha," is sometimes referred to as a "broken cross" or "ducks' necks." Information technology represented the sun in pagan times: the movement of the arms around the cross represented the movement of the sunday beyond the heaven. The Slavic pagans also believed that the sunday did non rise on its own, but was carried across the sky past a stag (or, in some versions, a horse). The deer and horses frequently found on Hutsul pysanky are solar symbols.

Pysanky with lord's day motifs were said to accept been especially powerful, because they could protect their owner from sickness, bad luck and the evil eye. In Christian times the sun symbol is said to represent life, warmth, and the honey and the Christian God.

Other cosmomorphic symbols are less commonly seen. The moon is sometimes depicted as a circle with a cantankerous inside it; it is begged to shed its light at night to help the traveller, and to chase away evil powers from the household. Stars are sometimes represented as dots.

Modernistic symbolism in pysanky [edit]

Modern easter eggs as well describe other symbols, memes and inscriptions. With the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, the images caused a patriotic meaning. There are tridents, a rooster of Vasylkiv majolica, tractors (pulling armored vehicles), inscriptions "Oh in the meadow", "For the freedom of Ukraine", "I believe in Ukrainian War machine", etc.^{[16] [17]}

The trend for Ukrainian Pysanka has besides spread to foreign designers who create such Pysankas with a rethinking of their symbolism.^[18]

Color symbolism [edit]

Information technology is not only motifs on pysanky which carried symbolic weight: colors also had significance. Although the earliest pysanky were oftentimes simply two-toned, and many folk designs nevertheless are, some believed that the more colors there were on a decorated egg, the more magical power it held. A multi-colored egg could thus bring its owner better luck and a improve fate.

The color palette of traditional pysanky was fairly limited, and based on natural dyes. Yellow, red/orange, greenish, brown and blackness were the predominant colors. With the appearance of aniline dyes in the 1800s, small amounts of blueish and purple were sometimes added. It is important to annotation that the meanings below are generalizations; dissimilar regions interpreted colors differently.^[6]

• Red - is probably the oldest symbolic colour, and has many meanings. It represents life-giving blood, and oft appears on pysanky with nocturnal and heavenly symbols. Information technology represents dearest and joy, and the promise of marriage. It is also associated with the sun.
• Black - is a particularly sacred colour, and is nigh commonly associated with the "other earth," simply not in a negative sense.
• Yellow - symbolized the moon and stars and also, agriculturally, the harvest.
• Blue - Represented blueish skies or the air, and good health.
• White - Signified purity, birth, low-cal, rejoicing, virginity.
• Green - the color of new life in the spring. Light-green represents the resurrection of nature, and the riches of vegetation.
• Brown - represents the world.

Some color combinations had specific meanings, too:

• Black and white - mourning, respect for the souls of the expressionless.
• Black and ruby - this combination was perceived every bit "harsh and frightful," and very disturbing. It is mutual in Podillya, where both serpent motifs and goddess motifs were written with this combination.
• Four or more than colors - the family's happiness, prosperity, love, wellness and achievements.

As with symbols, these talismanic meanings of colors applied to traditional pysanky with traditional designs, and not to modernistic decorative pysanky.

See also [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pysanka.

• Egg decorating in Slavic culture
• Pisanka
• Pysanka Museum
• Luba Perchyshyn

References [edit]

1. ^ Kилимник, Степан. Український рік у народних звичаях в історичному освітленні, том. ІІІ, Весняний цикль. Winnipeg, Toronto: Ukrainian Research Institute of Volyn' pp. 189-191
2. ^ "Opole: najstarsze polskie "pisanki" znaleziono na opolskim Ostrówku". onet.pl. 31 March 2013.
3. ^ Manko, Vira. The Ukrainian Folk Pysanka L'viv, Ukraine: Svichado, 2005
4. ^ Anne Jordan (v Apr 2000). Christianity. Nelson Thornes. ISBN9780748753208 . Retrieved 7 April 2012. Easter eggs are used as a Christian symbol to represent the empty tomb. The outside of the egg looks dead merely inside there is new life, which is going to break out. The Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus will rise from His tomb and bring new life.
5. ^ ^{a b} Біняшевський, Ераст. Українські Писанки (Ukrainian Pysanky) Київ: «Мистецтво», 1968
6. ^ ^{a b c} Manko, Vira (2008). The Ukrainian Folk Pysanka (2nd ed.). L'viv, Ukraine: Svichado. ISBN978-9668744235. Archived from the original on 2015-05-nineteen. Retrieved 2016-08-10 .
7. ^ Кириченко, М.А. Український Народний Декоративний Розпис Київ: «Знання-Прес», 2008
8. ^ Tkachuk, Mary et al. Pysanka: Icon of the Universe Saskatoon: Ukrainian Museum, 1977
9. ^ "Археологи у Львові виявили унікальну писанку, якій понад 500 років. Фото". galinfo.com.ua.
10. ^ Потапчук Наталія. УКРІНФОРМ 23-07-2008
11. ^ Воропай, Олекса. Звичаї Нашого Народу (Folk Customs of Our People) Київ: «Оберіг», 1993.
12. ^ Воропай, Олекса. Звичаї Нашого Народу (Folk Customs of Our People) Київ: «Оберіг», 1993
13. ^ "Where Easter Eggs Rival The Rainbow." Popular Mechanics, Apr 1944, pp. 88-89.
14. ^ Selivachov, Mykhailo. Folk Designs of Ukraine Doncaster, Australia: Bayda Books, 1995
15. ^ Lesiv, Mariya . From Ritual Object To Art Form: The Ukrainian Easter Egg Pysanka In Its Canadian Context. Folklorica, Journal of the Slavic and Eastward European Folklore Clan. Vol 12 (2007)
16. ^ "«Вірю в ЗСУ». У Вінниці запрошують створити писанки для наших військових - 20 хвилин". vn.20minut.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-04-25 .
17. ^ Шевчук, Катерина (2022-04-25). "На аукціоні у Хмельницькому продали поштову марку". Суспільне | Новини (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-04-25 .
18. ^ "ВЕЛИКОДНІ ПОДАРУНКИ НАШИХ ПОБРАТИМІВ — Телеканал I-UA.tv". i-ua.television set (in Ukrainian). 2022-04-23. Retrieved 2022-04-25 .

External links [edit]

Wait up pysanka in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Pysanka Museum
• Customs and Traditions
• Pysanka Writing Videos
• Pysanka Ethnography

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka

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