Ukrainian Easter Eggs With An Age-Old Equine Twist

Written by Shya Beth

You may have seen real chicken eggs decorated with bright colors, intricate designs and symbols around Easter time, but did you know this ancient craft is intertwined with horses and is practiced around the world? Now thought more of a decorative art form, historically these eggs were thought to be incredibly powerful in Ukrainian tradition.

The first thing to know about Pysanky, also spelled Pysanka, is that it is an ancient Ukrainian art form that translates to “to write” or “to inscribe”, as the colorful and often complex designs are not painted, but drawn on, using beeswax as ink. The egg is the canvas, and the message is hidden in a language all of its own through the colors and symbols that are dyed and written on the egg’s shell. The art form is practiced throughout central European countries, but Ukraine is the epicenter of the craft, and its history runs deep within Ukrainian culture. In the weeks preceding Easter, women and girls would gather at night and start working on creating pysanky that would be given to family, friends, priests, left at loved ones’ graves and even given to the farm animals for protection. There is a ritualistic, perhaps, mystic element involved, a calling out to the gods and goddesses for health, fertility, love, and wealth. There is a yearning for eternity, for the sun and stars and a mysterious element, transcending through time.

Each region, town and family had their own designs, symbols and meanings that were passed down from mother to daughter for generations. Although some meanings and designs have been lost to time, there have been many books, website groups, and festivals dedicated to preserving its history.

Writing Eggs

Let’s go over colors and symbols, as they are incredibly important. First, the design is created. With well over 100 symbolic patterns and symbols, there is quite a variety of possibilities. Plant and geometric motifs are the most popular, but animals are commonly found as well. The Hutsuls, located in the mountainous western region, commonly use animals in their designs, and horse designs, often called “Hutsul horses” are one of the most famous equine designs that is known to come from that region.

Two of the most powerful and significant animals are the horse and the stag. Horses are a very popular motif in pysanky, because they symbolize strength and endurance, as well as wealth and prosperity. Both horses and stags are sun symbols, with the legend being that the steeds of the sun god, Dazhboh, carried the sun from underground to the skies every morning and across the sky towards the west, to the land of death. As time went on, these beliefs were carried over to stags as well. Rams represent leadership and strength, and other animal designs were often linked to their reallife animal counterparts, wishing them good health and fertility for the coming year. Other designs, like spirals or curls, were meant to capture demons within the lines and offer protection, while wheat meant wishes for good health and harvest. Pine needles were for eternal youth, Poppies for great joy and beauty, along with triangles meaning the four elements of heaven, hell and earth.

Once a design has been chosen, a stylus-like pen, called a kistka, that holds wax would be used to “write” the designs on the shells, creating a wax resist. Colors are not painted (Though there is a separate art form for that, as well as at least nine other traditional styles!), but rather each egg is dyed from natural or chemical dyes. Starting with the natural color of the shell, usually white, the kistka is used to cover the selected white areas. Then, the lightest color is dyed onto the shell, and the wax resist is applied to the areas that need that particular color. It continues on, step by step, covering the areas of color, dying the egg, and waxing it again until reaching the darkest color, typically black.

Another aspect is to note that, until recently, all pysanky eggs were left whole. The gooey insides would dry over time, and would sometimes form into a hard ball or dry onto the inner sides of the egg.

Nowadays, most pysanky artists blow out the egg whites and yoke, using a special tool or air compressor. shells to continue on - especially during this dark time for Ukraine. Photos provided by mistybrookmeadows.com

Different horse designs are found on eggs throughout the ages and regions, and now throughout the world. Although it is thought that pysanky eggs date back well before pre-Christian times– perhaps even to early Slavic cultures, and some even think back to paleolithic times. Due to the fragile nature of the eggshell, the oldest pysanky found in Ukraine dates back to the 15th or 16th centuries, but the myths and legends have withstood the test of time.

Modern Day Pysanky

Today the practice of pysanky is alive and well not only in Ukraine, but across the world, and Pysanky isn’t the only way artists decorate eggs. There is also egg etching, where a natural color egg or dyed egg is literally scratched until the lighter color beneath is revealed in an intricate pattern or design, and another popular egg art style is that of carved eggshells. Intricate designs are carved using a high speed drill into the shell, and sometimes shells are even layered. One art studio creates eggs that have a carved border, with another half of an egg with a carved horse head motif is placed on top of it, giving a two-tone, three-dimensional effect.

This craft has been preserved for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years, and continues to be honored and preserved around the world. It proves that no matter how small or seemingly meaningless an object can be turned into something of beauty, wonder, and joy. During difficult times, these eggs give off a powerful, timeless feel of hope and inspiration, a moment of resistance within these fragile

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