”New Beginnings”  

“An egg somewhere in the world waits to come out of the shell to discover this world! With every new born being, the world gets a new chance to change its own fate in a positive or negative way!”

― Mehmet Murat ildan

In Ukraine, Easter egg decorating is an important art form that dates back centuries. Known as pysanky, these Ukrainian Easter eggs are decorated using the wax-resist (batik) method. Covered in stunning motifs often taken from Slavic folk art, you’ll also find these decorated eggs in many parts of eastern Europe.

Creating these precious eggs takes focus and attention to detail, but the results are stunning works of art that are traditionally given as gifts to family members and community leaders. In fact, pysanka is so important to the culture that it’s thought that it was even produced in prehistoric Ukraine. Archaeologists have found decorated ceramic eggs to back up this theory and, according to folklore, pysanky can help ward off evil from overtaking the world. Later, this blended with Christian beliefs, though many people still feel that the decorative eggs work to scare off bad spirits from the home.

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery
Pechersk, Kyiv, Ukraine
10/26/2012