SUNDRE – There’s more involved in the art of pysanky than merely decorating an egg with colourful designs; the Ukrainian-origin Easter crafts that celebrate spring’s arrival also symbolically share hopeful messages of renewal and prosperity.
The word pysanky itself is derived from the verb pysaty – which essentially means “to write” – since the designs are not drawn directly on the egg’s shell but rather written on through the use of beeswax and subsequent applications of layers of paint.
And the words krashanky, krapanky, and malyovanky respectively represent meanings along the lines of “to decorate” and “a dot” as well as “to paint.”
Instructor Karen Tubb was at the Sundre Municipal Library on the evening of March 22 to facilitate a lesson during the local annual pysanky class.
A small group of three spent about two hours decorating their eggs one layer at a time.
Their effort was assisted by a guide that explained the meaning behind certain colours such as yellow representing light and happiness and light green being a show of new growth and hope, as well as designs like diamonds representing knowledge and wavy lines representing water, good crops and wealth.
Shirley Poole, who had never before participated in the workshop and decorated her first psyanky egg under Tubb’s guidance, said she was fascinated to learn that the Ukrainian-origin art is more about sharing a message than merely colouring an egg.
