“Once every boy had a basket, in which girls put their heart pysanka eggs on the Easter. It meant that a girl fell in love with the boy. It happened sometimes that one received many heart pysanka eggs, and one got none”, tells folk art master.
The exhibition represents works of 30 masters from all over Ukraine. Every master of “pysanka” [Ukrainian traditional Easter eggs] has her own style, favorite colors, and ornamental patterns.
For instance, folk art master Liubov Kittorova decorates her pysanka eggs with very ancient pagan elements and regrets that “too little people know about these elements, even artists do not always understand what they paint”.
| Folk master Liubov Kittorova and her granddaughter |
Mrs. Liuba’s granddaughter also studies this sophisticated art – in my presence she painted a so-called “heart pysanka”.
“Once every boy had a basket, in which girls put their heart pysanka eggs on the Easter. It meant that a girl fell in love with the boy. It happened sometimes that one received many heart pysanka eggs, and one got none”, tells Liubov Kittorova.
| The heart pysanka is to the left |
Drawing from the source of archaic symbols, masters depict the fairy world, peculiar to different regions of Ukraine – Podillia, Slobozhanshchyna, Bukovyna, Kyivshchyna, Sumshchyna, Lvivshchyna, and many others.
Symbols and meanings of Ukrainian Easter eggs:
Plants: new life
Animals: prosperity
Straight, unbroken line: continuous thread of life, eternity
A basket: motherhood and knowledge
Dots: the stars, or the Virgin`s tears
Star: the sun, or God`s love
Red: the sun, life and joy, Christ`s blood
Yellow: wealth and fertility
Green: spring and plant life