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TRADITION AND SYMBOLISM EASTER EGGS Ukrainian Easter eggs axe con sidered the best examples of Uk rainian Folk Art. The making of these eggs stems from ancient tradition. Archeolbgists have found traces of them in tombs which date back to the ninth cen tury—alimosrt one hundred years before Ukraine accepted Christi anity. These ancient eigigs or egg- forms were of stone, and engrav ed with symbolic designs. In the pre-Christian era the “sun” was worshipped as the God of all Good and the season of spring was a time of festivals and feasts of thanksgiving to the sun- god. At thiis time the eg“g stood as a symbol of creation and growth. Thus tihey were decorat ed with images of the sun-god and served as symbols of good will, not only among human be ings living or dead, but also in re lation to animals, plants, and w at ers. With tihe acceptance of Christi anity, the symbolism of the egg was changed and adapted to the new belief. The egg now stood for the Resurrection of Christ. Con sequently, designs were chang ed. Crosses, fish and churches, ap pear as new elements added to the old traditional s*un-designs. Thus the Easter eggs evolved as a combination of pagan and Christian tradition and symbol ism. These two elements have sur vived until today, and even here in America we find classic exam ples o*f such Easter eggs made by a contemporary folk-artist who is not even conscious of the origin of the designs with which he dec orates the eggs. He is conscious only of the traditional design which was impressed upon his mind from childhood. He admired this design, and he reproduces it as he would reproduce a fairy tale related to him by his’ mother. This is the power of tradition, without which folk-art cannot ex ist. Easter egigs are the product of pure folk-art. Psychologically the creation of such art differs from the creation of tlhe individual a rt ist. The folk-artist creates as a child does—with the same weak nesses and the same vigor. No matter haw hard he works on his art, he still looks upon it as play or recreation. Moreover, he thinks in terms of images or pic tures, whereas the educated a rt ist creates an idea and then se lects the means for conveying his idea to our sense's. The folk-artist begins his work wi th a p re-conceived image and develops its detail while he works. Because of this the result is one of immediacy ana picitur- esquieness. There is no hesitation in such drawing or coloring, and the ornament develops in a com pletely natural manner. As mentioned before, folk art growls and develops on tradition. This does not mean that designs are copied or followed. The tridi- tional design is contained in the subconscious mind of the artist. It impresses him from his child hood. He sees it daily, as he sees his home, trees, flowers. He re produces it later from memory, but lie never copies. Thus some of the designs on the eggs might be similar, but never identical even LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Officers of Junior League Branches:— Congratulations upon your elec tion for the year 1952. We wish you success in all your endeavors and hope that your term of office will' be a happy and fruitful one. W e’d like to congratulate you personally but we don’t know who you are. Won’t you drop us a Іще to let us know the outcome of the recent elections, what your plans for tlhe coming year are, what you hope to accomplish, how you expect to carry out your plans ? We’re looking forward to hear ing from you. Hopefully, Eleanora Kulchycky though they are made by the same person. The egg designs we see today are the result of the creative abil ity of hundreds of past genera tions, something which could nev er be created by a single individ ual. For folk-art is the accumila- tive art of a nation. It is therefore genuine and of real value, not only for scholars and scientists but for all arit-loving people. Mrs. Stephanie Pushkar.
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