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OUR LIFE M o n th ly , p u b lis h e d b y U k ra in ian N a tio n a l W o m e n ’s L e a g u e o f A m e ric a VO L. XLV April 1988 Editor: M arta Baczynsky CHRIST HAS RISEN! We extend our sincere Easter greetings to Maria Kwitkowsky, President of the WFUWO, to Lidia Burachynsky and Iwanna Rozankowsky, Honorary Presidents of UNWLA, to the Honorary Members of UNWLA, to the members of the National Board, to Regional Council Boards, to the general membership of UNWLA, to all our friends who support and encourage our work! Our thoughts are with our brothers and sisters in our native Ukraine who are unable to freely rejoice in this glorious Holiday! We send them greetings and pray they continue to have courage in their struggle for freedom! THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL WOMEN’S LEAGUE OF AMERICA. UKRAINIAN EASTER TRADITIONS In antiquity, at about the time we now celebrate Easter, the ancestors of the Ukrainians performed their "Rite of Spring” with elaborate rituals. It is possible that they called this day “The Great Day” just as it is called by modern Ukrainians. After a millennium of Christianity, many of the ancient pre-Christian customs are still an integral part of Ukrainian Easter celebrations. One of the most important examples is the “pysanka,” an egg decorated with symbolic designs. Representing the sun, the rene wal of life, and immortality, the “pysanka” played a cru cial role in the ancient rites. Because of its perishable nature, only the ceramic majolica-glazed eggs from Kiev of the 10th or 11th centuries survived to our day. How ever, most of the symbols depicted on the “pysanka” are very old. The representation of the goddess Berehyna — half woman — half snake — has its origins in the Neolithic Trypillian culture which existed on the terri tory of the present day Ukraine around 3500 B.C. As reported by Herodotus in the fifth century before Christ the Scythians, ancient inhabitants of Ukraine, consi dered this legendary being as their genetrix. One of the Kievan princes used the representation of this goddess as his emblem. The meander, a winding and unending line which is frequently found on the “pysanka”, harks back to a sim ilar meandering design carved on mammoth bones, excavated in Mizyn, near Kiev, 29,000 to 30,000 years 18 ’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, КВІТЕНЬ 1988 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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