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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Pysanky Easter Eggs

You might be under the impression that I'm Ukrainian, what with me showing you all these Ukrainian Easter eggs and all.  However, that would be incorrect - I'm really an Anglo-European dog's breakfast blend who just happens to like pysanky or Ukrainian Easter Eggs.


This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to an Easter fair with my parents at a church out in the country called St. Elias the Prophet.  Well, let's just say it made me want to be Ukrainian.


There were gorgeous hand-painted pysanky eggs.  If you want to see some pysanky made by an amateur with a shaky hand look here, but if you want to see what the pros make, check these out:




The eggs were decorated with horses, roosters, deer, oak leaves, crosses, stars, wheat, rakes and other symbols all with special meaning to the Ukrainian people.



I loved that there was a handout with an explanation about the meaning behind the decorations used on the eggs.  I took a picture of a part of the sheet explaining about the leaves and animals.




I didn't know that the style of decorations used on the pysanky varied from region to region in the Ukraine.  This is just a small sample of the regions they displayed.




Not only were there pysanky eggs at the Easter fair, but there were also beeswax candles, and handmade chocolates, and embroidery, 




and yummy Easter breads - some with braided crosses on top, some that had been baked in cans, and some that had been baked in special lamb-shaped molds.




After surveying all the goodies we bought some bread, some chocolate, and a couple of the pysanky.  With the huge selection  it was very difficult to decide which ones to choose. 




I finally chose these two beauties.




Yep it's definitely enough to make me want to be Ukrainian.  

Linked to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

19 comments:

  1. What a great outing...I am going to find my egg to see what symbols are on it!

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  2. Those are so pretty, and I loved learning what the symbols represent. Very cool!

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  3. What a wonderful and fun place to go to. The breads look delicious and the eggs are beautiful!

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  4. Wow, Grace, these eggs are gorgeous! I've never seen them in person, but sure would like to. I especially like the blue and white one that your purchased. Thanks for coming by for a visit- I'll be back again soon. :-) Sue

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  5. What a day you must have enjoyed...all that fabulous talent...wow, these are so beautiful...
    Have a beautiful week!!!

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  6. It must have been very difficult choosing which eggs to buy; they are all so beautiful! I enjoyed reading about the symbolism behind the rooster. I have never seen bread in the shape of an animal before. What a great, informative post! It's nice to meet a fellow blogger from Ontario!

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  7. Grace, these are amazing. Thank you for sharing the photos and the page of illustrations with their meanings. I'd love to have one of these eggs for my collection of handpainted Easter eggs. I recently shared a post on hand painted Easter eggs, but they aren't the Pysanky eggs. Hope you can stop by for a visit. ~ Sarah

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  8. They are so beautiful. I can totally imagine how hard it would have been too choose. I am never good at that and given the beauty of all before you, well, you made excellent choices. Now, as for chocolate....that I am good at when it comes to a quick decision!

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  9. So exquisite. I had a friend who collected these beautiful eggs. Every one is a work of art. V

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  10. What fun! I've always been fascinated by these wonderful little works of art. I love the ones you took home. I would have had a horrible time picking! And the bread! Yum! Happy Spring!

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  11. I want to be Ukrainian, too! What a wonderful Easter fair. I would love to visit a fair like this. There is a great Greek festival close by that has the best food.

    The eggs are beyond gorgeous, Grace.

    (((hugs))),
    Ricki Jill

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  12. What a great day you had and I love the eggs. I like the eggs you chose, they are pretty and colorful.

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  13. Grace these eggs are a beauty to behold. And I checked yours out and I thought yours were beautiful too. So many talented people around. Thanks for coming to my blog - it was lovely to hear from you. I will email you about the lightbox. Have a great day

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  14. This looks lovely! Hope to see you at My Dream Canvas

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  15. They look absolutely beautiful! Love that they look so different.

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  16. I love Ukranian Easter eggs. They are so beautiful. Love those breads, too. Maybe I should make something like that.

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  17. Oh, wow! Those are so gorgeous! I wonder how long it takes just to paint one egg?

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  18. Great article, beautiful pysanky thanks for showing the artistic talent.

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