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Pysanky has gone through many changes in its evolution.
In its earliest mystical origins pysanky was a women’s art,
practiced after the children were tucked away for the night and
the house was quiet. A fresh, fertile egg was used because
it was a symbol of life. The design on the egg resonated with
symbolism; the recipient would be wished a good harvest, fortune,
healthy children, love or any number of other things. Over
the years, trade routes enabled an exchange of ideas, which surely
had some affect on the designs. When the Ukraine embraced
Christianity in 988 AD, the symbols took on Christian meanings.
The decorated eggs slowly became associated with Easter rather than
spring rites. A few hundred years later when Communists took
over the area and forbade Christian worship, pysanky became a symbol
of underground worship. In more recent years pysanky
artists have discovered new canvas in “exotic” eggshells
such as rhea or ostrich and many have begun blowing out their eggs.
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