Friday, April 15, 2011

If Indiana Jones looked for eggs...


...he'd find pysanky.  Pysanky, the traditional Ukrainian Easter egg, is by no means a new tradition based in Christianity.  Try more like 6000BC and the Trypilljan culture.  While obviously it is impossible to find examples of actual egg pysanky, numerous ceramic relics have been found dating back to about 1300 BC. 

Each symbol, color, line, plant, and animal motif has specific meaning and purpose.  When you think about current day Easter egg packs, and the bunnies, chicks, flowers, and color pots, it all starts to slowly make sense.  Of course, these things are incredibly badass looking versus just being purple with some squiggle lines. 



This site has an amazing breakdown of each symbolic meaning found on a pysanky.  From suns to moons to crosses to horses to the color brown...the next time you look at an extravagantly decorated Ukrainian Easter egg, try to decipher what exactly the artist was saying. 

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