How to Make Pysanky

Female1: Pysanky or the Ukranian Egg Painting tradition is all about
carefully drying clean straight lines on the surface of the egg.
Something that I’ve always found challenging, still I decided to
give it a try.

Female2: Okay, so now it’s time for Olga to be a teacher again and for me to
be the student. You’re going to give me a demonstration.

Female1: Alright.

Female2: On just a second. Right now — where do we start?

Female1: Oh, you start with warming your stylus.

Female2: Okay.

Female1: Now and then warm the top of this stylus in the tip, not all weight;
you’re warming the wooden dowel.

Female2: I’m burning the stylus. See, what did I tell you?

Female1: We need rooms that will catch fire and then —

Female2: So this would be a challenge.

Female1: So you are going to start with — you’re going tie and draw us a
line with the center. You use your eye and your judgment.

Female2: And we know my ability to draw a straight line.

Female1: From here to here.

Female2: I’m dripping already. What do I do not to drip?

Female1: Okay, touch it to the wax again. heat it touch it to the wax slightly.

Female2: To the wax lightly.

Female1: And then —

Female2: Oh goodness.

Female1: You want to try creating a stroke. Ah, very good.

Female2: Oh, that’s not good. Olga?

Female1: It is good.

Female2: My line —

[Laughter]

Wait, look at my line.

Female1: It’s your very first.

Female2: It’s my first line. This is very slippery.

Female1: This is wonderful, my goodness.

Female2: My line is matched up everybody.

Female1: They met your very first egg.

Female2: Now see how much smoother.

Female1: The more you’re drawing on the egg. The smoother the lines are
—

Speaker: The egg in the Ukrainian tradition is a symbol of new life, similar
to the little chick hatching out into the world. It’s only natural then
that it’s closely attached to Easter, also a celebration of birth and
new beginnings.

Female2: I’m now officially a part of the family.

Female1: Yes.

Female2: I wanted just talk in general about the Easter celebration in the
Ukrainian culture. What do we have here? Talk to me about what
the spread is and what it's for?

Female1: Yes, our table is set and with want we usually have for our Easter
breakfast. We break the fasts — fasting during Lent before Easter
and we prepare all the foods that we have in until during the
Lenten Season. And then Easter morning when we go home —
when we come back from Easter or sunrise and liturgy in the
morning then we have the Easter breakfast.

And then we put the Easter eggs, the Ukrainian Pysanky in the
basket to be blessed as well as the eggs that we’re going to eat. We
also do just a plain egg. The Croatian is just is in — the one in
color. Now these of course are decorative. They’re also gifts so
when we meet each other at the blessing of the Easter food then we
if we have someone that we wish to give an egg to as a gift. We do
that in that time.

Female2: But just tell me, what is the significance of the egg in the
Ukrainian culture?

Female1: Yeah, the egg for us is the symbol of new life that Christ gives at
Easter.