TRADITIONAL PYSANKY

Traditional Ukrainian Regional Pysanky

Traditional pysanky have been created in Ukraine for many centuries, and probably since pre-Christian times.  The designs and motifs have evolved over the ages, but, most likely, fairly slowly. Pysankarstvo is a fairly conservative art – little change in designs has been seen from when pysanky were first collected by ethnographers in the nineteenth century and those traditional patterns being produced today.  Because there was magic in the designs, because pysanky were talismanic objects, there was little incentive to bring about any drastic changes. 

Designs are both regional and local in nature.  Those which are most widespread are probably the oldest, while those that are more localized are probably more recent.  Some trends can be see for local variation. Pysanky from the Carpathian regions tend to be much more intricate and to have wild animal motifs, and to have lots of oranges and yellows.  Those from Podillya have stylized snake/berehynia motifs and few colors,  red, yellow and black sufficing. Lemko regions tend to use predominantly drop-pull patterns, while Volynian pysanky tend towards red and green.  Chernihiv and Sokal favor floral motifs, the former simple flowers, the latter complex vinok designs.  Waves are often seen in southern Ukraine, near the Black and Azov Seas.

Two Specific Types of Traditional Pysanky

There are two variations on the wax-resist pysanka that deserve extra scrutiny.  One is a variation on the method (different instruments are used), and the other is a very widespread pattern that is seen, in one form or another, in almost every part of Ukraine.

First, there is the drop-pull pysanka, a wax-resist decorated egg made by using a pin head or a match to apply the wax rather than the traditional stylus.  They are most common in the Lemko regions of Ukraine, which are found in Zakarpattya oblast, Slovakia and Poland.

Second, there is a the Sorokoklyn, or  ”40 Triangles” style of pysanka.  This type of pysanka, named after the division of the surface into many small triangles, is common throughout Ukraine, although most popular, it seems, based on the patterns I’ve seen, in Podillya.

Traditional Ethnic Regions of Ukraine

There are many different schemes of ethnic divisions of Ukraine, probably a many as there are ethnographers.  You can read more about these divisions here.

Ethnographic Map of Ukraine from Ukrainian Arts, (Edited by A. Mitz; published by the Ukrainian Youth

League of North America, Inc., New York, 1955; pg. 17).

I’ve also posted a set of plates of traditional Ukrainian pysanky of Erast Binyashesky; you can find them here.

My Regional Pysanky

I’ve been working on my traditional regional pysanky, but only Volyn’/Волинь and a some of Lemkivshchyna (Лемківшина)  including Пряшів (Pryashiv / Presov) have been posted to this site so far.  I’ve created lots of eggs from Cherkassy and Ternopil, so those should come on line soon, unless I get distracted.  Keep checking back.

I have created an introduction to Ukrainian ethnographic regions, with maps and descriptions.  It includes links to information about and pysanky of those regions here on my web site. In each section, I have tried to include some ethnographic and historical information about the region, especially those that are located beyond Ukraine’s modern borders.

Under the photos of the traditional regional pysanky I have included, when known, the name of the pysanka, and its village and region of origin.  I have translated pysanka names, and regional names, but not the village/town names.  If you wish to transliterate them yourself, a handy pronunciation guide can be found here.

I have added a list of the sources for my patterns here (in progress); I will try to put the abbreviation for the source in the comments for each of the pysanky pictured.  Note that I said that I will try.

Finally, I have uploaded pattern sheets for traditional pysanky.  These can be found on the Traditional Downloads page.  The patterns are all based on pysanky from Odarka Onyshchuk’s book.

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