Pysanky

This week on Monday I took a trip to Surma, a shop in the East Village to pick up some egg dye and some fresh wax. It is a ritual for me. And rituals seem important during Lent. We do things that we have always done. But this is a process of making Ukrainian style Easter Eggs. I am sure you have seen them. They are very carefully decorated, and often have folk symbols or crosses on them. They are elaborate. Wikipedia makes many distinctions between Pysanky and other sorts of wax and dyed eggs. And I am sure the ones I make are not traditional enough to qualify. Perhaps just by the fact that I am not from Ukraine. Anyhow, it got me thinking about two things. The first is that making these eggs, (and of course the verb is writing the eggs, just as one writes an icon), was and is women's work. They would produce the eggs during the night in Holy Week, and when Easter came be able to present different eggs with different symbols to members of their family and community. The egg tradition pre-dates Christianity in Ukraine, of course. Reading through the entry on Wikipedia, it suggests that the eggs were related to the sun god and rebirth of the earth. But as Christianity co-opted symbols, it became connected to the idea of the rebirth of humanity through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. These eggs are just laden with symbols, the colors have meanings, the images have meanings, the kinds you make for young and old people have meaning.

So I am interested in those two last things that these eggs are women's work, and that they are reminders of our rebirth through the cross.  I think I might say more about that later-perhaps in a newsletter article....

I began part two of my ritual two night. I emptied out the egg shells. This is both hard and gross work. Not at all Lent like or meditative. But it is surprisingly satisfying when you get it right.

And then last night I made my first two eggs. They were just warm up eggs. By that I mean they were elaborate, but not too time consuming. Just two colors red and black, and not the most careful eggs I have ever made. But the results are pretty fun.