Happy Easter! And an intro to pysanky...

Happy Easter!

Khristos Voskres! (Christ is Risen!)

  

Wishing all of my readers a very Happy Easter and give you a little information on an ancient art form called pysanky. Many of you may be familiar with this beautiful tradition, but if not, there is a fantastic article that was in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently that can give you the details:

We have been doing the regular young-kid egg dyeing projects, but this year was the first year I was able to introduce my girls (ages 5 and 3) to pysanky. I am of Ukrainian heritage and learned this from my aunt and mother when I was just a bit older than they are now. 

It's been years since I have made them myself, but I am looking forward to doing them in years to come with my kids.

Although we weren't quite ready to mess around with the permanent dyes typically used for this, I decided to dig out the kistkas (wax writing styluses) and beeswax to give my girls a little introduction into how it is done.

I started by 'writing' a few dividing lines around the egg to show them, and then let them each try a little scribbling with the wax. They loved it.

Here is my older daughter giving the kistka a try.

Do you have any Easter art traditions in your family?

I hope that you enjoy this beautiful day!