sunday reflections {march 6, 2022}

"The world is a looking glass. It gives back to every man a true reflection of his own face..." ~ William Makepeace Thackeray

A very timely memory popped up on my Facebook page. Nine years ago, I attended a workshop on pysanka, the Ukrainian Easter eggs. These intricately decorated eggs are Ukraine's most well-known  Easter tradition. Ukrainians have been decorating eggs for generations.

 

The large eggs were made by an 87-year old Ukrainian woman who is considered a national treasure by her country. Beautiful works of art.

My attempt at pysanka...

The design motifs on pysanky date back to pre-Christian times. While the symbols have remained through the ages, their interpretation has changed. A triangle that once spoke of the three elements, earth, fire and air, now celebrates the Christian Holy Trinity. The cross which depicted the rising sun is now the symbol of the risen Christ. Sun and star symbols once referred to Dazhboh, the sun god, and now refer to the one Christian God.  And the fish, which spoke of a plentiful catch and a full stomach, now stands in for Christ, the fisher of men. Even so, under this Christian veneer, there still lurk the berehynia and the serpent, the sun and the moon, the old gods, the old ways, and the old beliefs.

In the twentieth century, in eastern and southern Ukraine, religion and national identity were suppressed as formal policy by the USSR.  Pysanky died out in many regions altogether, as it was viewed as a religious practice, unlike folk painting, embroidery and woodworking, which were not only allowed to continue to be practiced, but were actively commercialized and mechanized. (After WWII, when the USSR annexed western Ukraine as well, similar suppression of pysanky and Ukrainian identity occurred there as well.)

The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine and it has become a symbol of solidarity during the Russian invasion. Sunflowers can self pollinate, but bee pollination is helpful to sunflowers, especially in times of stress. Strength from friends. 💙🌻 💛