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had to write the doctoral thesis only in Russian, defend it only in Moscow, and very often rather late in life. Ukraine is free now. We must nurture contacts and cooperative efforts with Ukrainian artists and the cultu ral community. In the last few years The Ukrainian Museum mounted exhibitions of such noted artists from Ukraine as Ivan Marchuk, Feodisii Humeniuk, Borys Buriak, among others. The Museum has sponsored the visits of such scholars as Dr. Hryhorij Lohvyn. The Museum’s documentation of its folk arts collection cur rently tasks the expertise of ethnographers Raissa Chu- haj from Lviv and Mychaijlo Selivachov from Kiev. At the present time our homeland is beginning to stand on its own two feet. There will be many hurdles to overcome, much must be changed, learned and re learned. We are obliged to walk step in step with the new halting strides Ukraine, as a free country, makes into an international arena of fellow nations, an arena closed to our homeland for such a long time. Through such institutions as The Ukrainian Museum the halting steps can be giant leaps as the glory and wealth of a thousand-year Ukrainian culture is proudly and prop erly reintroduced to the world. P Y S A N K Y — U K R A IN IA N E A S TE R E G G S In attempting to understand creation, ancient people developed myths in which the egg was perceived as the source of life, the sun and the universe. Although such similar myths were found in many cultures of the world, Ukrainians today are one of the few groups of people who still stongly adhere to the ancient traditions associated with the egg. The Ukrainian pysanka was believed to possess an enormous power not only in the egg itself which har bored the nucleus of life, but also in the symbolic designs and colors which were drawn on the egg in a specific manner, according to prescribed rituals. Pysanky were used for various social and religious occasions and were considered to be a talisman, a protection against evil, as well as harbingers of good. In ancient times pysanky were decorated only by women and young girls. The eggs were chosen with great care — only impregnated eggs were used and those from chickens which had laid eggs for the first time. The decorating process was carried out in secret, away from the eyes of strangers, lest someone cast an evil spell on the egg. In pagan times the pysanky were decorated in early Spring, while with the onset of Christianity, this was done before Easter. The symbolic ornamentation of the pysanky consist mainly of geometric motifs, with some animal and plant elements. The most important motif is the stylized symbol of the sun, which is seen as a broken cross, swastika, triangle, an eight-point rosette or a star. Other popular motifs are endless lines, stylized flowers, leaves, the tree of life, and also some animal figures such as horses, stags and birds. The Christian influences brought elements such as crosses, churches and fish. The most popular method of decorating pysanky is the use of the wax method or batik. A specialized instrument called the kistka, ryl’tse or pysal’tse is used to write the design. The dyes used in decorating pysanky also had a symbolic meaning. Red symbolized the sun, life, joy; yellow stood for wealth and fertility; green was the symbol of Spring, plant life, etc. In the not too distant past artisans prepared their own dyes, using natural products such as the bark of oak or ash trees, twigs of sour apple trees, saffron or willow leaves. Today chemical dyes are used. It took a long time for the Ukrainian pysanka to develop and achieve perfection. Although contemporary artisans continue to employ the ancient symbols and traditional colors on the egg, the pysanka is no longer considered to be a talisman, only a beautiful folk art object. LUBOW WOLYNETZ ’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ", КВІТЕНЬ 1992 19
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