Library to host Ukrainian Easter egg-making session
DEXTER — On Saturday, April 1 at 10 a.m. a pysanky workshop will be held at the Abbott Memorial Library. Pysanky is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs using a wax-resist method.
Molten beeswax is applied to a white egg with a writing motion; any bit of shell covered with wax will be sealed and remain white. Then the egg is dyed yellow and more wax applied, and then dyed orange, red, purple and black (the dye sequence is always light to dark). Bits of shell covered with wax remain that color. After the final color, the wax is removed by heating the egg over a candle and gently wiping off the melted wax.
In pre-Christian times, the egg was also honored during rite-of-spring festivals — it represented the rebirth of the Earth. The long, hard winter was over, the earth burst forth and was reborn just as the egg miraculously burst forth with life. The egg therefore, was believed to have special powers.
With the advent of Christianity, the symbolism of the egg was changed to represent, not nature’s rebirth but the rebirth of man. In modern times, the art of the pysanka was carried abroad by Ukrainian emigrants to North and South America, where the custom took hold. It was concurrently banished in Ukraine by the Soviet regime (as a religious practice) where it was nearly forgotten.
All materials will be supplied. Space is limited, please call 924-7292 by March 29 to register.