Hello to everyone here! Good Friday, that commemorates the passion and death of Jesus Christ, is today! Orthodox Christians name this day “Great and Holy Friday”. It is believed in Ukraine, that one must do nothing today but fast and pray only. To the beginning of the Good Friday Ukrainian ladies should finish kulichi baking and, of course, egg painting. In other words, world famous pysankas should be painted till Good Friday. Oh, don’t you know what does pysanka mean? Get ye reading!

Pysanka is a painted or decorated egg that is a specific symbol of Easter in Ukraine.  These brightly colored eggs are traditionally given as Easter gifts and are real pieces of national folk art. The word “pysanka” takes its roots in the word “pysaty” which means “to write”. In fact, it is associated with the fact that pysanky are not painted originally but written on the egg with natural paints and beeswax. As a usual, pysanky are made by Ukrainian (married) ladies only. Pysankari (the artists of making pysankas were called so) used traditional Ukrainian folk motifs and symbols, geometrical figures, shapes and forms, and various elements of wild flora and fauna as well. Intricate patterns on the eggs have its own specific meanings. Spirals mean defence, plants motifs are commonly associated with the spring rebirth of nature after cold winter, and animals represent health and prosperity. Every Ukrainian region has its local distinctive colors and patterns – olive and yellow for Poltava region, red, white and black for Chernihiv region.

According to the kind of technique used, Ukrainian painted eggs are divided into several types. There are the very pysanky, then krashanky, malyovanky, dryapanky and krapanky. Well, it sounds terrific, but there are real masterpieces of drawning art! Modern, later, variants including travlenky, kleyanky and biserky also should be mentioned. Various techniques and ways of creating – that’s where they’re different.  Pysanky are made with a special device called pysachok, and with beeswax. The patterns and colors are drawn gradually by wax technique. Krashanky are the most popular kind of painting eggs for Easter, when eggs first boil, and then dyed in a single color. Malyovanky are painted with the help of brush, and they are definitely the only kind to correspond properly to its name. As a matter of fact, they are brush-painted with different kinds of color paints. Dryapanky (it means scratching eggs) mean these eggs are made by scratching or scraping the patterns on the egg painted into dark color in order to reveal the white elements. Krapanky are created with the help of wax dots dripping on the egg surface. All these techniques are of Ukrainian origin, and if you would see the authentic Ukrainian Easter in your own eyes, you should definitely visit Ukraine!