This Christian holiday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The date of celebration varies from March to April, depending on the date of the Match equinox. Christians worldwide gather for this major holiday for the religion to feast, attend church services, and hunt Easter eggs. Easter Sunday marks the end of Lent, which is a 40-day period of fasting and reflection. It follows Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Biblical Background
The story of Easter makes up a fundamental aspect of Christian theology. While Good Friday marks Jesus’s crucifixion, Easter Sunday is a day for Christians to celebrate his resurrection. Following Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion, he was buried in a tomb. While the next part of the story varies according to different accounts, most follow the theme of female followers of Jesus going to visit the tomb and finding the stone rolled away from the opening with Jesus’s body missing. Jesus went on to appear to his followers several times before his ascension into heaven. The resurrection of Christ is an important part of Christian belief because of its association with salvation.
Christians started celebrating the tradition of Easter with a feast soon after the time period of the resurrection, which is believed to have occurred around 33 AD. The time of year was chosen for the celebration since Jesus celebrated the Passover shortly before his crucifixion and so the time is believed to be around the time of Jesus’s actual crucifixion. In medieval celebrations, congregations would walk in a procession after mass, following a priest holding a crucifix or candle.
Traditions
Many Christians begin the celebration with an Easter Vigil the night before, sometimes called Easter Eve or Holy Saturday. Church services on Sunday typically follow regular church service tradition with a sermon or songs concerning the Easter story. Some churches hold mass or other services at sunrise. Other common traditions include:
The Easter egg hunt is a tradition that originated with pagan spring festivals that celebrated fertility. Like many pagan traditions, Christians intertwined the practice with religious significance. Easter egg hunts feature eggs hidden by the mythical Easter bunny, which may contain candy or other prizes. Hard-boiled eggs may also be used. The children will go looking for eggs to put in their Easter egg basket. On the day before Easter, many families decorate hard-boiled eggs with paint to use for the hunt. Eggs are also part of the tradition because of the ban on eggs during lent in Medieval Europe, meaning they were often included in the Sunday feast.
Churches are often decorated with flowers. A significant theme for Easter is rebirth, which flowers can emulate and symbolize. Traditional Easter flowers include Easter Lilies, which are believed to have grown in the Garden of Gethsemane, the site of Jesus’s arrest. Other Easter flowers include pussy willows, daffodils, narcissuses, and red tulips, which symbolize Jesus’s shed blood.
Including the candy hidden inside of Easter eggs, many children are given a basket of goodies at the day’s beginning. A common gift is a chocolate bunny.
Countries all over the world celebrate the holiday differently. Italy holds reenactments of the Easter story held in the public squares. Cyprus holds bonfires in the yards of schools and churches. In Germany, eggs are set in trees, called Easter egg trees, similar to the Christmas tree.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have several unique Easter traditions. One features the males of a family spanking females with a homemade whip decorated with ribbons. The spanking is lighthearted and is believed to bring health over the next year. The men may also dump cold water on them in some areas. It is also a day for men to pay visits to objects of their affection.
In the United Kingdom, observers participate by rolling eggs downhill and in some areas by performing the Pace Egg play, a traditional local event. A big part of Jamaican celebration is to eat a spiced bun that may contain raises with cheese. In Scandinavian countries like Norway, celebrators ski and relax at cabins in the mountains. Some areas may features children in costumes going door to door for candy or flowers. Many Nordic countries include salmon or another type of fish with the feast.
In Australia, the Easter Bilby delivers eggs rather than the Easter Bunny, as bunnies are viewed as an agricultural pest. The city of Haux, France, make an omelet big enough to feed 1000. The dish is often has about a 10 inch diameter. Easter is an important holiday in Greece, where on the island of Corfu, residents toss pots of water out of windows, following the Venetian tradition of breaking pots in celebration. They also bake cakes in the shape of doves, called kolompines. Guyana flies homemade kites, a tradition often participated in by citizens of all religions.
In Australia, the Easter Bilby delivers eggs rather than the Easter Bunny, as bunnies are viewed as an agricultural pest. The city of Haux, France, make an omelet big enough to feed 1000. The dish is often has about a 10 inch diameter. Easter is an important holiday in Greece, where on the island of Corfu, residents toss pots of water out of windows, following the Venetian tradition of breaking pots in celebration. They also bake cakes in the shape of doves, called kolompines. Guyana flies homemade kites, a tradition often participated in by citizens of all religions.
Pagan Origins
In pagan celebrations, Easter was typically a celebration of fertility, and many cultures associated the celebration with the Germanic goddess of fertility, Eostre, which is where the holiday’s name came from. Some cultures called the holiday Ishtar, which celebrates the resurrection of the Tammuz, another pagan god.
The Easter Bunny is a result of folkloric tradition. Their association with the holiday comes from their ability to procreate, making them symbols of fertility. German settlers brought the Easter Bunny tradition to America in the 1700s.

The History Behind Easter Eggs
Bunnies really don’t lay eggs!
No one is absolutely sure who was first to use the egg as a symbol of Easter, but virtually all recognize its important message of renewal and rebirth. Whether the egg reminds us more of a springtime goddess of fertility or the renewed life of Jesus Christ, depends entirely on personal preference.
In Pagan belief, Easter is clearly linked to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eastre (Latin: Oestre), the goddess of fertility. The goddess Eastre would entertain children by turning her favorite bird into a hare that would lay colorful eggs. It stands to reason that the celebration linked to the spring vernal equinox would be symbolized by the fertile egg – the seemingly dormant shell of the egg bursts forth with new life when the chick breaks free, just as the spring bursts forth with new life after the dormant winter.

Long before the birth of Jesus, celebrations of renewal were occurring: Egyptians and Persians would dye eggs in bright colors and give them away as a symbol of renewed life. And, according to the mythology of many Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures, the earth itself was hatched from a giant egg.
One Christian story, however, has Mary Magdalene going to the Emperor of Rome after the resurrection and presenting the leader with a red egg, proclaiming the rising of Christ. The red coloration represented the blood of Jesus, the egg shell His tomb, and the fertilized egg His renewed life. This may explain the emphasis on the color red in Pysanky, the Ukrainian art of egg decorating.
During his reign, Pope Gregory the Great (AD 590-604) banned Christians from the Lenten consumption of eggs. Eggs that were laid during this period would be boiled to preserve them until Easter Sunday. This denial of eggs for so many weeks coupled with the abundance of the boiled variation on Easter Sunday resulted in the overindulgence of eggs at Easter time.
Regardless of where the tradition originated, the whole world now seems to celebrate with eggs at Easter time. From hard-boiled to fresh and marshmallow to chocolate, the Easter variation on this tiny oblong vessel of life is astounding – so the question is, how do you want your eggs?

PYSANKY:

Archeologists have discovered ceramic pysanky in Ukraine dating back to 1300 B.C. They have linked pysanky designs to those of Egyptian ceramics created in 1500 B.C., and to symbolism of the  Trypillian culture of Ukraine of 3000 B.C. 6000 years ago the Trypillian culture flourished in Ukraine. The society existed 3000 years before biblical Abraham and long before Greek mythology and the Bronze Age. Trypillian people lived in the land of Ukraine at the same time as the Egyptian pyramids were build. The Trypillians were a matriarchal society that worshipped “mother earth” and had little interest in power struggles concerning politics, taxes, money and ruling, as in patriarchal societies. Trypillians lived peacefully with each other and with their neighbors. The tools which were most used were hoes and sickles, not clubs and arrows. Their homes were decorated inside and out with beautiful drawings and paintings. Because they took time for artistic and aesthetic beauty, scientists feel they had enough food and time to spend on higher pursuits such as beauty and art. In both design and color, Trypillian symbolism echoed the people’s close attachment to the soil and other elements of nature. Ukrainian symbolic art is based, in large measure, on these early ideograms. The most notable example is the Ukrainian meander or unending line, which denotes the cyclical nature of life. Other examples include such motifs as the circle, cross, stars, dots, matriarchal symbols, wheat, fir tree, horse, stag, horns and bear’s paws. What is a symbol on “pysanka”? It is a word picture, an ideogram, a code, containing the secrets of a culture. More effectively than words it reveals feelings: love, happiness, hope, dread ,despair, etc. To those who understand symbolic art, it means something, and to those who cannot decipher the code, it remains a mystery.
The sense of mystery is inherent because each pysanka involves a trinity of symbolisms: the symbolism of the egg itself, the symbolism of design, and the symbolism of color.

Pysanka
A pysanka (Ukrainian: писанка, plural: pysanky) is a pretty Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs using a wax-resist (batik) method. The word pysanka comes from the verb pysaty, “to write”, as the designs are not painted on, but written with beeswax.
Many other eastern European ethnic groups decorate eggs using wax resist for Easter. These include the Belarusians (пісанка, pisanka), Bulgarians (писано яйце, pisano yaytse), Croats (pisanica), Czechs (kraslice), Hungarians (hímestojás), Lithuanians (margutis), Poles (pisanka), Romanians (ouă vopsite, incondeiate or impistrite), Serbs (pisanica), Slovaks (kraslica), Slovenes (pisanica, pirhi or remenke) and Sorbs (jejka pisać).

Types of decorated Ukrainian eggs
/wiki/File:Ukrainian_easter_egg_on_stamp_01.jpg
/wiki/File:Ukrainian_easter_egg_on_stamp_01.jpg /wiki/File:Ukrainian_easter_egg_on_stamp_01.jpgA stamp showing a Ukrainian Easter egg with a Christian cross
Pysanka is often taken to mean any type of decorated egg, but it specifically refers to an egg created by the written-wax batik method and utilizing traditional folk motifs and designs. Several other types of decorated eggs are seen in Ukrainian tradition, and these vary throughout the regions of Ukraine.
⦁ Krashanky –from krasyty (красити), “to decorate”– are boiled eggs ⦁ dyed a single color (with vegetable dyes), and are blessed and eaten at Easter.

Legends
The Hutsuls––Ukrainians who live in the Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine––believe that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka. As long as the egg decorating custom continues, the world will exist. If, for any reason, this custom is abandoned, evil––in the shape of a horrible serpent who is forever chained to a cliff–– will overrun the world. Each year the serpent sends out his minions to see how many pysanky have been created. If the number is low the serpent’s chains are loosened and he is free to wander the earth causing havoc and destruction. If, on the other hand, the number of pysanky has increased, the chains are tightened and good triumphs over evil for yet another year.
Newer legends blended folklore and Christian beliefs and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration. One legend concerns the Virgin Mary. It tells of the time Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross. She entreated them to be less cruel to her son and she wept. The tears of Mary fell upon the eggs, spotting them with dots of brilliant color.

Making pysanky
An unfinished pysanka ready for the black bath of dye. It bears the Ukrainian Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!”
Each region, each village, and almost every family in Ukraine had its own special ritual, its own symbols, meanings and secret formulas for dyeing eggs. These customs were preserved faithfully and passed down from mother to daughter through generations. The custom of decorating pysanky was observed with greatest care, and a pysanka, after receiving the Easter blessing, was held to have great powers as a talisman.
Pysanky were traditionally made during the last week of Lent, Holy Week in the Orthodox and Greek (Uniate) Catholic calendars. (Both faiths are represented in Ukraine, and both still celebrate Easter by the Julian calendar.) They were made by the women of the family. During the middle of the Lenten season, women began putting aside eggs, those that were most perfectly shaped and smooth, and ideally, the first laid eggs of young hens. There had to be a rooster, as only fertilized eggs could be used. (If non-fertile eggs were used, there would be no fertility in the home.)
The dyes were prepared from dried plants, roots, bark, berries and insects (cochineal). Yellow was obtained from the flowers of the woadwaxen, and gold from onion skins. Red could be extracted from logwood or cochineal, and dark green and violet from the husks of sunflower seeds and the berries and bark of the elderberry bush. Black dye was made from walnut husks. The dyes were prepared in secret, using recipes handed down from mother to daughter. Sometimes chemical dyes (of unusual or difficult colors) were purchased from peddlers along with alum, a mordant that helped the natural dyes adhere better to eggshells.
A stylus, known as a pysachok, pysak, pysal’tse, or kystka (kistka), depending on region, was prepared. A piece of thin brass was wrapped around a needle, forming a hollow cone. This was attached to a small stick (willow was preferred) with wire or horsehair. In sthe Lemko regions a simple pin or nail inserted onto the end of a stick was used instead (drop-pull technique).
The pysanky were made at night, when the children were asleep. The women in the family gathered together, said the appropriate prayers, and went to work. It was done in secret––the patterns and color combinations were handed down from mother to daughter and carefully guarded.
Pysanky were made using a wax resist (batik) method. Beeswax was heated in a small bowl on the large family stove (піч), and the styluses were dipped into it. The molten wax was applied to the white egg with a writing motion; any bit of shell covered with wax would be sealed, and remain white. Then the egg was dyed yellow, and more wax applied, and then orange, red, purple, black. (The dye sequence was always light to dark). Bits of shell covered with wax remained that color. After the final color, usually red, brown or black, the wax was removed by heating the egg in the stove and gently wiping off the melted wax, or by briefly dipping the egg into boiling water.[6]
Boiled eggs were not used, as pysanky were generally written on raw or, less commonly, baked eggs (pecharky). Boiled eggs were dyed red for Easter, using an onion skin dye, and called “krashanky”. The number of colors on an egg was usually limited, as natural dyes had very long dyeing times, sometimes hours. Pysanky would be made–and dyed–in batches.
Alternatively, in ethnic Lemko areas, a pinhead was dipped into molten wax and then applied to the shell of the egg. Simple drops were made, or there was an additional pulling motion, which would create teardrop or comma shapes. These drops were used to create patterns and designs. Dyeing and wax removal proceeded as with traditional pysanky.
Pysanky continue to be made in modern times; while many traditional aspects have been preserved, new technologies are in evidence. Aniline dyes have largely replaced natural dyes. Styluses are now made with modern materials. Traditional styluses are still made from brass and wood, but those made with more modern plastic handles are gaining in popularity. An electric version of the stylus has been commercially available since the 1970s, with the cone becoming a metal reservoir which keeps the melted beeswax at a constant temperature and holds a much larger amount than a traditional stylus. These newer styluses (whether electric or not) also sport machined heads, with sizes or the opening ranging from extra-extra-fine to extra-heavy.
Sharing pysanky
Pysanky are typically made to be given to family members and respected outsiders. To give a pysanka is to give a symbolic gift of life, which is why the egg must remain whole. Furthermore, each of the designs and colors on the pysanka is likely to have a deep, symbolic meaning. Traditionally, pysanky designs are chosen to match the character of the person to whom the pysanka is to be given. Typically, pysanky are displayed prominently in a public room of the house.
In a large family, by Holy Thursday, 60 or more eggs would have been completed by the women of the house. (The more daughters a family had, the more pysanky would be produced.) The eggs would then be taken to the church on Easter Sunday to be blessed, after which they were given away. Here is a partial list of how the pysanky would be used:
One or two would be given to the priest.
Three or four were taken to the cemetery and placed on graves of the family.
Ten or fifteen were given to children or godchildren.
Ten or twelve were exchanged by the unmarried girls with the eligible men in the community.
Several were saved to place in the coffin of loved ones who might die during the year.
Several were saved to keep in the home for protection from fire, lightning and storms.
Two or three were placed in the mangers of cows and horses to ensure safe calving and colting and a good milk supply for the young.
At least one egg was placed beneath the bee hive to insure good production of honey.
One was saved for each grazing animal to be taken out to the fields with the shepherds in the spring.
Several pysanky were placed in the nests of hens to encourage the laying of eggs.
Everyone from the youngest to the oldest received a pysanka for Easter. Young people were given pysanky with bright designs; dark pysanky were given to older people.
A bowl full of pysanky was invariably kept in every home. It served not only as a colorful display, but also as protection from all dangers. Some of the eggs were emptied, and a bird’s head made of wax or dough and wings and tail-feathers of folded paper were attached. These “doves” were suspended before icons in commemoration of the birth of Christ, when a dove came down from heaven and soared over the child Jesus.
Symbolism in pysanky
A great variety of ornamental patterns are found on pysanky. Because of the egg’s fragility, no ancient examples of pysanky have survived. However, similar design motifs occur in pottery, woodwork, metalwork, Ukrainian embroidery and other crafts[7] , many of which have survived.
The symbols which decorated pysanky underwent a process of adaptation over time. In pre-Christian times these symbols imbued an egg with magical powers to ward off evil spirits, guarantee a good harvest and bring a person good luck. After 988, when Christianity became the state religion of Ukraine, the interpretation of many of the symbols began to change.
The names and meaning of various symbols and design elements vary from region to region, and even from village to village. Similar symbols can have totally different interpretations in different places. There are several thousand different motifs in Ukrainian folk designs. They can be grouped into several families.
Geometric
The most popular pysanka designs are geometric figures. The egg itself is most often divided by straight lines into squares, triangles and other shapes. These shapes are then filled with other forms and designs. These are also among the most ancient symbols, with the решето (resheto, sieve) motif dating back to Paleolithic times. Other ancient geometric symbols are agricultural in nature: triangles, which symbolized clouds or rain; quadrilaterals, especially those with a resheto design in them, symbolized a ploughed field; dots stood for seeds.
Geometric symbols used on pysanky today include the triangle (the Holy Trinity or the elements of air, fire and water), diamonds (knowledge), curls/spirals (defense or protection), tripods (man, woman and child or birth, life, and death). Dots, which can represented seeds, stars or cuckoo birds’ eggs (a symbol of spring), are popularly said to be the tears of the blessed Virgin. Hearts are also sometimes seen, and, as in other cultures, they represent love. The spiral is said to be protective against the “нечиста сила”; an evil spirit which happens to enter a house will be drawn into the spiral and trapped there.
One interesting adaptation of the geometric design is not a symbol per se but a division of the egg called “forty triangles” (actually 48) or “Sorokoklyn (forty wedges).” It’s ancient meaning is not known, but is often said to represent the forty days of lent, the forty martyrs, the forty days that Christ spent in the desert, or the forty life tasks of married couples.
Eternity bands
Eternity bands or meanders are composed of waves, lines or ribbons. A line without end is said to represent represents immortality. Waves, however, are a water symbol, and thus an agricultural symbol, because it is rain that ensures good crops.
Christian symbols
The only true Christian symbol, and not one adapted from an earlier pagan one, is the church. Stylized churches are often found on pysanky from western Ukraine, particularly those in the Hutsul regions and Bukovyna; a sieve motif inside symbolizes the church’s ability to separate good from evil.
Crosses are fairly common, although most of those found on traditional pysanky are not Ukrainian (Byzantine) crosses. The crosses most commonly depicted are of the “cross crosslet” type, with arms of equal lengths. In ancient times the cross was a sun symbol, an abstracted representation of the solar bird.
Other adapted religious symbols include a triangle with a circle in the center, denoting the eye of God, and one known as the “hand of god.”
Phytomorphic (Plant) motifs
The most common motifs found on pysanky are those associated with plants and their parts (flowers and fruit). Women who wrote pysanky drew their inspiration from the world of nature, depicting flowers, trees, fruits, leaves and whole plants in a highly stylized fashion. Such ornaments symbolized the rebirth of nature after winter, and pysanky were written with plant motifs to guarantee a good harvest. A most popular floral design is a plant in a vase of standing on its own, which symbolized the tree of life and was a highly abstracted version of the berehynia (great goddess).
Pysanky created by the mountain people of the Hutsul region of Ukraine often showed a stylized fir tree branch, a symbol of youth and eternal life. Trees, in general, symbolized strength, renewal, creation, growth; as with animal motifs, the parts (leaves, branches) had the same symbolic meaning as the whole. The oak tree was a sacrd to the ancient god Perun, the most powerful of the pagan Slavic pantheon, and thus oak leaves symbolized strength.
Pussy willow branches are often depicted on pysanky; in Ukraine, the pussy willow replaces the palm leaf on Palm Sunday. Wheat symbolizes wishes for good health and a bountiful harvest.
Fruit
Fruit is not a common motif on pysanky, but is sometimes represented. Apples, plums and cherries are depicted on traditional pysanky. Currants and viburnum (kalyna) berries are sometimes seen, too. These motifs are probably related to fecundity. Grapes are seen more often, as they have been transformed from an agricultural motif to a religious one, representing the Holy Communion. Grapevines are said to signify the good fruits of the Christian life.
Flowers
Flowers are a common pysanka motif. They can be divided into two types: specific botanical types, and non-specific.
Specific botanical types include poppies, sunflowers, daisies, violets, carnations, periwinkle and lily-of the-valley. These flowers are represented botanically, with identifying features that make them easy to recognized. Carnations will have a serrated edge to the petals, the flowers of the lily of the valley will be arrayed along a stem. There are also flower motifs called orchids and tulips; these are not botnical names, but designations for fantastical flowers, as neither of these flowers was commonly found in Ukriane until modern times, and the names reflected the exoticism of the designs.
Non-specific flowers are common, and consist of ruzhy and others. Ruzhy (or rozhy) are named after the mallow flowers, and are another name given to the eight-pointed star motif. They can be full, empty, compound or even crooked. They are a sun sign. Other non-specific types often have hyphenated names: potato-flower, strawberry-flower, etc. They are usually simple arrangements of petals, six or more, and bear little resemblance to the plant they are named for.
A vinok, or garland of flowers, echoes the beautiful garlands worn by Ukrainian girls around their heads during holidays and celebrations. On the pysanka, vinky are drawn in three circles around the egg, representing the three parts of human existence: birth, marriage, and life.
Scevomorphic motifs
Scevomorphic designs are the second-largest group of designs, and are representations of man-made agricultural objects. These symbols are very common, as Ukraine was a highly agricultural society, and drew many of its positive images from field and farm. Some of these symbols are actually related to agriculture; others have older meanings, but were renamed in more recent times based on their appearance.
Common symbols include the ladder (symbolizing prayers going up to heaven) and the sieve/resheto (a plowed field, or perhaps the separation of good and evil).
Rakes and combs are commonly depicted; both are meant to invoke a good harvest. They are rain symbols. The body of the rake is the cloud, and the teeth symbolize rain drops.
Windmills, a variation on the broken cross (swastika) motif, are actually sun symbols, not agricultural symbols. The movement of the cross echoes the movement of the sun across the sky.
Zoomorphic (Animal) motifs
Although animal motifs are not as popular as plant motifs, they are nevertheless found on pysanky, especially those of the people of the Carpathian Mountains. Such symbols had a double function: they were intended to endow the owner with the best characteristics of a given animal such as health and strength; at the same time they were supposed to ensure animals with a long and productive life. Deer, rams, horses, birds and fish were depicted in the abstract, not with realistic detail.
Horses were popular ornaments because they symbolized strength and endurance, as well as wealth and prosperity. They also had a second meaning as a sun symbol: in some versions of pagan mythology, the sun was drawn across the sky by the steeds of Dazhboh, the sun god. Similarly, deer designs were very prevalent as they were intended to bring prosperity and long life; in other versions fo the myth, it was the stag who carried the sun across the sky on his antlers. Rams are symbols of leadership, strength, dignity, and perseverance. Lions symbolize strength, but are a rarely used symbol.
Sometime women simply drew parts of animals; these symbols were a sort of shorthand, but were endowed with all the attributes of the animal represented. Ducks’ necks, goose feet, rabbits’ ears, rams’ horns, wolves’ teeth (loyalty and wisdom), bear claws (bravery, wisdom, strength and endurance, as well as a guardian spirit and the coming of spring), and bulls’ eyes. Horns of any sort represent manhood and leadership.
Birds
Birds were considered the harbingers of spring, thus they were a commonplace pysanka motif. Birds of all kinds are the messengers of the sun and heaven. Birds are always shown perched, at rest, never flying (except for swallows). Roosters are symbols of masculinity, or the coming of dawn, and hens represent fertility.
Birds were almost always shown in full profile with characteristic features of the species. Partial representations of some birds––mostly domestic fowl––are often seen on pysanky. Bird parts (eyes, feet, beaks, combs, feathers) carry the same meaning as the entire bird. Hen’s feet represent fertility, duck and goose feet represent the spirit, and the rooster’s comb signifies masculinity..
Insects
Insects are only rarely depicted on pysanky. Spiders and, more often, their webs are the most common, and probably symbolize perseverance. Other insects are sometimes seen on modern, diasporan pysanky, most commonly butterflies and bees, but seem to be a modern innovation. In Onyshchuk’s “Symbolism of the Ukrainian Pysanka” she depicts pysanky with a butterfly motif, but the original design, recorded by Kulzhynsky in 1899, was labeled as being swallow tails.
Fish
The fish, originally a symbol of health, eventually came to symbolize Jesus Christ, the “fisher of men.” In old Ukrainian fairy tales, the fish often helped the hero to win his fight with evil. In the Greek alphabet “fish” (ICHTHYS) is an acrostic of “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,” and it became a secret symbol used by the early Christians. The fish represents abundance, as well as Christian interpretations of baptism, sacrifice, the powers of regeneration, and Christ himself.
Snake
Another ancient symbol is that of the змія or serpent, the ancient god of water and earth. The serpent could be depicted in several ways: as an “S” or sigma, as a spiral, or as a wave. Depictions of the serpent can be found on Neolithic Trypillian pottery. The serpent symbol on a pysanka is said to bring protection from catastrophe. Spirals were particularly strong talismans, as an evil spirit, upon entering the house, would be drawn into the spiral and trapped there.
Cosmomorphic motifs
Among the oldest and most important symbols of pysanky is the sun, and the simplest rendering of the sun is a closed circle with or without rays. Pysanky from all regions of Ukraine depict an eight-sided star, the most common depiction of the sun. Six- or seven-sided stars can also be seen, but much less commonly.
The sun can also appear as a flower or a трилист (three leaf). The swastika, a “broken cross” or “ducks’ necks” also represented the sun in pagan times. The movement of the arms around the cross represented the movement of the sun across the sky. The Slavic pagans also believed that the sun did not rise on its own, but was carried across the sky by a stag (or, in some versions, a horse). The deer and horses often found on Hutsul pysanky are solar symbols.
Pysanky with sun motifs were said to have been especially powerful, because they could protect their owner from sickness, bad luck and the evil eye. In Christian times the sun symbol is said to represent life, warmth, and the love and the Christian God.
Other cosmomorphic symbols are less commonly seen. The moon is sometimes depicted; it is begged to shed its light at night to help the traveller, and to chase away evil powers from the household. Stars are sometimes represented as dots.
Color symbolism
It is not only motifs on pysanky which carried symbolic weight: colors also had significance. Although the earliest pysanky were often simply two-toned, and many folk designs still are, some believed that the more colors there were on a decorated egg, the more magical power it held. A multi-colored egg could thus bring its owner better luck and a better fate.
The color palette of traditional pysanky was fairly limited, and based on natural dyes. Yellow, red/orange, green, brown and black were the predominant colors. With the advent of aniline dyes in the 1800s, small amounts of blue and purple were sometimes added. It is important to note that the meanings below are generalizations; different regions interpreted colors differently.[8]
⦁ Red – is probably the oldest symbolic color, and has many meanings. It represents life-giving blood, and often appears on pysanky with nocturnal and heavenly symbols. It represents love and joy, and the hope of marriage. It is also associated with the sun.
⦁ Black – is a particularly sacred color, and is most commonly associated with the “other world,” but not in a negative sense.
⦁ Yellow – symbolized the moon and stars and also, agriculturally, the harvest.
⦁ Blue – Represented blue skies or the air, and good health.
⦁ White – Signified purity, birth, light, rejoicing, virginity.
⦁ Green – the color of new life in the spring. Green represents the resurrection of nature, and the riches of vegetation.
⦁ Brown – represents the earth.
Some color combinations had specific meanings, too:
⦁ Black and white – mourning, respect for the souls of the dead.
⦁ Black and red – this combination was perceived as “harsh and frightful,” and very disturbing. It is common in Podillya, where both serpent motifs and goddess motifs were written with this combination.
⦁ Four or more colors – the family’s happiness, prosperity, love, health and achievements.
These talismanic meanings applied to traditional pysanky with traditional designs. Since the mid-19th century, pysanky have been created more for decorative reasons than for the purposes of magic, as the belief in such practices has fallen by the wayside in a more modern, scientific era.