Easter eggs symbols. Pysanka: history, symbols and painting techniques. Duck's feet, lady's hand, glove, grandfather's fingers

The egg is a symbol of the creator of all nature,

omnipresent, omnipresent

and containing everything within itself.

The greatest holidays of our ancestors: New Summer, Easter (Pasika) and Christmas of the Universe (Velikden) - were embodied in the present Bright Resurrection of Christ.

Christianity found in Rus' both the worship of the egg as a symbol of the transition from non-existence to existence, and the custom of preparing painted eggs and Easter eggs. They commemorated their ancestors with a boiled colored egg and said goodbye to the winter. They greeted Zhiva-Spring with pysanka and sang the awakening of the creative forces of nature.

The pysanka was not drawn or painted, but written on a raw chicken egg. Its ornaments are sacred writings: prayers, carols, the laws of God, which are thousands of years old. Every line on a pysanka is an arc. The arcs form circles and ovals and, crossing, divide the surface of the egg into fields, the name of which is the baptismal shirt of the Easter egg.

According to legend, Easter eggs are stars born of the Mother of God the Bee. Once a year, a Slavic woman had the great honor of representing the Mother of God on earth. On Maundy Thursday, in the hour before dawn, she brought a magical spindle whorl to the threshold and spun a woolen thread, rotating the spindle against the salt: she knitted the “ovary” - the golden embryo of life. During the day I bathed the children, baked bread, and then simmered the paints for Easter eggs in a warm oven. Water for paints was taken on Wednesday evening from seven springs or springs, behind the current - in honor of the seven stars of the Pleiades of the Taurus constellation, where, according to legend, the Creator himself lived. She carried her home silently, in secret. This untouched living water was poured over dried herbs, flower petals, and the bark of a young wild apple tree and placed in the oven for a couple of hours.

While the paint was being prepared, a letter to God was written on a raw chicken egg with hot wax using a fork bone taken from a rooster's breast. Eggs for Easter eggs were only suitable for those that were laid between two lunar months. A real Velikodensky pysanka retained its vitality until the next Maundy Thursday: it did not rot or dry out.

Easter eggs were supposed to be painted with the first strike of the bell. First, the egg was dipped in yellow paint, “apple tree,” and kept in it for “three centuries.” Each color of the pattern was protected with wax. By the end of the work, the eggs turned into black, gloomy buns. They were dipped into hot water or brought to the fire. The wax melted and the pysanka was born, just as the sun is born from the blackness of the night.

To make the pysanka shine, it was greased. They put it with a whisk around the Easter cake - for God, on a dish with grain - for people, and dyes on sprouted oats - for parents. And three candles burned in honor of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Primary colors of the ornament: black, red, yellow, green. The Black (Ryaba) Hen laid a luminous golden egg, from which the Universe was born. Black is the earth that has cast off the white veil of winter. Velikden is red, Yegoriy is green, Kupala is golden (yellow).

On the Bright Resurrection of Christ, the windows were thrown wide open so that as much sun as possible could enter the house. The pysanka was placed in water, and with this water, when getting ready for matins, young girls washed themselves to get a blush from the dawn. On Monday, the children thanked their godmother with pies and pysanka. Bands of boys and voluble men walked from house to house, sang Christ-glorifying songs and, as a reward, received from the girl an Easter egg containing the very spirit of God and his forty mercies. Pysanka unlocked the heart for love, gave the power of fertility, protected from the evil eye and damage, slander, illness, natural disaster, poverty, bestowed beauty and wealth, hope for a happy marriage and harvest. She was kept in the house like an icon. The gift of Easter eggs sealed the relationship. Through the Easter egg there was a transfer of spiritual warmth from person to person, there was a transfer of sacred knowledge from generation to generation. Selling pysanka is an unforgivable sin, giving it as a gift meant showing an honor.

The famous pysanka researcher and full member of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society S.K. Kulzhinsky left us information about the Orenburg, Samara, Ufa, Tula, Kuban, Voronezh pysanka. At the end of the 19th century, landowner E. Skarzhinskaya collected more than 2,000 Easter eggs for her ethnographic museum in Lubny, including Kursk Easter eggs from Great Russian villages, of extraordinary beauty and very fine workmanship. You can recognize a Slav by his pysanka, like a birthmark. It is already being written in Siberia and the Urals, in Yaroslavl and Tver, in Moscow and St. Petersburg... There is no death. There is a transformation. Christ is Risen!

How to write a pysanka

Materials needed: fresh white chicken eggs, beeswax, candle, soft pencil, brushes, matches, paper and cotton napkins, special Easter egg dyes or aniline wool dyes, white vinegar, spoon.

The instrument used to write Easter eggs is called a kistka. Roll up a cone-shaped tube from foil or thin tin. Roll it around the needle so that the bottom hole is as narrow as possible. Use a thin copper wire to secure the tube to a wooden stick.

Thin the paints with hot boiled water. Strain. Add 2 tbsp. spoons of vinegar per 0.5 liters of paint. Instead of vinegar, add 1 teaspoon of salt to yellow and orange paints.

Wash white eggs in boiled water at room temperature and dry on a towel.

Wash your hands thoroughly with soap. Take the egg in your left hand and the pencil in your right. Use the little finger of your right hand to maintain the balance of the egg and use a pencil to divide its surface into margins. At the same time, rotate the egg towards you, and draw the line away from you. Try not to change the position of the pencil. Distribute the pysanka ornament in the fields.

Light a candle. Heat the head of the brush and fill it with wax. Cover with hot wax those lines and parts of the ornament that should be white. Try not to interrupt the line.

Place the egg on a spoon and gently dip it into the yellow paint for 1...2 minutes. The paint should be warm, but not hot, so that the wax on the egg does not melt. Blot the yellow-painted egg with a paper napkin, dry it and cover the yellow elements of the ornament with wax. If there are green specks in the pysanka letter, apply them to the shell with a match, blot them with the tip of a paper napkin, cover with wax and dip the egg in red paint. Having protected the red color with wax, dip the egg in the final dark red, black, brown paint or in “Whiteness” or “Lily” bleach if you want to have a pysanka on a white background. To get a green background, you need to dip a red egg first into water, then again into yellow paint, and only then into green.

Now bring the egg to the fire. When the wax melts, wipe it off with a soft cotton napkin, and the pysanka will shine in your hands like the sun after a thunderstorm.

Rub the finished Easter eggs thoroughly with unsalted lard. Do not varnish! Store in the shade, in a well-ventilated area.

Each craftswoman had her own repertoire of divine pysanka writing. The letter was passed down from generation to generation, from century to century, from millennium to millennium. Easter eggs symbols have divine power. That’s how I was taught, that’s what I’m telling you, that’s what you’ll tell your children when you teach them to write Easter eggs. For your Easter basket I offer samples of Easter eggs from the late 19th – early 20th centuries.

Pysanka- traditional painting on a living egg. Easter eggs were written not only for Easter, but throughout the year on important occasions: a wedding, the birth of a child, a talisman for a long journey, the start of a new business, building a house, etc. This custom is much older and has nothing to do with Christianity.

According to archaeological data, the tradition of painting on eggs is more than five thousand years old. Even during the excavations of the legendary Troy, a stone egg was found with symbolic signs applied to it...

The tradition of pysanka was previously widespread among all Slavic peoples from the Southern Urals to the Oder. But it is known that our ancestors used in their ritual actions not stone ones, and not chicken ones, as they do now, but crane ones, and certainly fertilized eggs. During training, young craftswomen are warned that it is impossible to change or distort a drawing-symbol, you cannot write a gag, you cannot be angry and plot evil at this time. Creating a pysanka was and remains an action. Although the purpose is completely different. Now pysanka is a talisman, a home talisman, and not a request to God. It is clearly visible that the symbols are divided into: pre-Christian, and Christian. Pre-Christian these are Volovoye, or Velesovoye eye, conics, Bereginya, solar signs-spiders, Tree of Life. Christian- fish- a symbol of health, fertility, and the element of water. (For people with high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases, it is better to give pysanka with fish signs in blue)

Writing Easter eggs is ancient sacred rite, and they prepared for it with great responsibility. Pisankarka was fasting and was in a prayerful mood. It was necessary to collect eggs from light-colored chickens that were laying eggs for the first time.
In addition to the egg, other things that were used when writing Easter eggs had a special symbolic ritual meaning: water, wax, fire, paint. The water for washing eggs and making up paints was taken “untapped”, that is, collected at about 3-4 o’clock in the morning, preferably from seven springs or springs. This water has special healing powers. Or they took raw snow water, that is, melt water. The pysankarka was supposed to carry this water without turning back or to the sides; when meeting passers-by, she was not supposed to greet or answer questions, maintaining strict silence. Then the water was “silent”, clean, that is, it did not carry any information, and therefore could not damage or distort the pysanka.

The ritual of writing Easter eggs began with prayer. The candle was lit. Before going to the bathhouse, the craftswoman thought carefully about what she planned for the year, composed an image, an intention in her imagination that should be manifested. Next, I thought and wondered about the images, signs and symbols that would be best suited for realizing my plans. That is, she depicted in the form of a pattern what she wanted to happen. There were generic symbols that had been tried for many centuries. If a pattern did not bring good luck, it was no longer used. In the process of writing the pysanka, the craftswoman pronounced and “worded” each symbol, representing the people for whom it was intended or the situation or event for which the symbol was supposed to help come true. With spell formulas, she seemed to consolidate the magical power of the patterns. Thus, ancient patterns and symbols are prayers and requests for health, a good harvest, family happiness, etc.

The most common sign on Easter eggs is the Alatyr sign - a symbol of the creation of the world, the center of the Universe. This sign brings harmony and spiritual insight. Svarga (swastika) is a symbol of the movement of the Universe. Svarga is a sign that programs for a successful life, procreation, it is a symbol of God's blessing. It is good to place such a pysanka in the spiritual center of the house.

Easter eggs often depict an infinity symbol. This sign is also called a snake or a wave; it is a symbol of the Goddess Dana, cosmic waters. A wavy line without beginning or end symbolizes infinity, the rhythmic movement of energies, life, the whole world. According to tradition, Easter eggs with this sign were placed above the front door so that they would purify the thoughts of everyone entering the house. Beekeepers put Easter eggs with “infinity” in the hive so that bees would swarm endlessly.

The symbols of the Sun on Easter eggs are a circle, a circle with dots, a circle with a cross inside or rays outside. The Sun can also be symbolized by six- and eight-rayed stars. The sun is the awakening of the world, growth, so “sunny” Easter eggs were most often given to guys. Easter eggs with the signs of the Sun were also written to children, placed near children's cribs so that they could grow faster and gain strength: children and young people were written on a red background, with clear and variegated colors.

The color on Easter eggs has a sacred meaning. Red (“beautiful, clear”) denotes harmony and love. Black is the color of the other world. Therefore, Easter eggs with a black background were given to elderly people, and were also worn to the graves of deceased relatives. Red and black Easter eggs are magical; the alternation of red and black can also mean the unity of opposites (yin and yang). The black pattern is a symbol of earthly Deities. The moon and stars were depicted in yellow, and the yellow color also denoted the harvest. Blue - sky, air, in magic - health. Green - spring, the revival of nature, the richness of the plant world. Brown, brown - a symbol of fertile land. The unity of white and black means respect for the souls of the dead.

It is believed that an egg strewn with multi-colored dots - grains of fertility - can help a woman become pregnant and give birth safely. Also, women who wanted to have children painted Easter eggs with flowers and gave them to the children.

Easter eggs with diamonds will bring good luck in creativity - fruitful work. The spiral symbolizes eternity - infinity.

Horse and deer are symbols of sunrise and sunset. Ancient myths say that a deer uses its antlers to bring the Sun into the sky. In the myths of many peoples, there is an image that the Sun rides on a horse-drawn chariot. Horses, as well as deer, are considered conductors of the souls of the dead from the world of Revealing to the other world, by analogy with how they “transfer” the Sun from one world to another. A pysanka with such symbols will help disperse stagnant energies and activate vitality.

Oak leaves and acorns symbolize masculinity. A pysanka with such a pattern can be placed at the head of the bed of the head of the family. She will feed him with positive energy and help him in all his endeavors.

Description of the technique:

Soft (not< 4М) грифилем, едва касаясь делим яичко на паралели и меридианы.Карандаш потом сотрется горячим воском.Прогреваем инструмент на огне свечи. Писачок может быть специальным, или например наконечником старой металлической иглы от шприца,аккуратно спиленной. или даже позвонком рыбьего хребта. Внутрь писачка набираем крошку парафина или воск, он более тугоплавкий. Пробуем на салфетке,чтоб на яйце не капнуло где не надо.Заполняем то что должно быть белым,погружаем в тепловатую краску самого светлого цвета.Краски-Желательно анилиновые. Вынимаем в х/б салфетку,обтираем.Далее заливаем парафином из писачка то что желтое,погружаем в следующую краску.Например-оранжевую.Зеленые и голубые фрагменты наносятся кисточкой, невпитавшуюся краску промакиваем салфеткой, заливаем парафином,опускаем в следующую краску.Так далее до самого темного.В конце нагреваем залепленное парафином яйцо в боковом пламени свечи,начинаем растирать парафин по поверхности яйца.В этот момент смывается карандаш и копоть,а яйцо начинает лосниться.

While the pysanka is in paint, at this moment the craftswoman reads prayers and says sentences!

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“I will be wrapped in shells, I will be girded with the morning dawn, I will be surrounded by the month, I will be covered with the sun, I will be surrounded by frequent stars - such is the Easter egg... She became the personification of beauty and harmony, the unshakable law of the universe.”
Ivanitskaya Z.N. "Pysanka: 300 SAMPLES"

To prepare the Red Egg you will need:
- fresh chicken eggs without defects on the shell,
- pure beeswax, wax church candles, as well as paraffin household candles,
- paints,
- napkins,
- soft simple pencil,
- table vinegar,
- brushes, special tools for wax painting.

Preparing eggs for painting.
The egg shell should be smooth, matte, but whether you choose white or fawn is a matter of taste. A medium-sized chicken egg is most suitable, and it is desirable that both ends of the egg are approximately equally rounded. Eggs for Easter eggs should be washed very carefully in soft, warm water. After washing, lay them out on a towel to dry.
You can paint and paint both boiled and raw eggs.
You should cook eggs like this: carefully place clean eggs in a saucepan, fill them level with water, add salt (1 tablespoon per 2 liters of water) and bring to a boil. Then carefully remove from the boiling water and place on a towel to cool.
Pysanky masters often recommend soaking chicken eggs in water with vinegar before dyeing. A drop of vinegar will not hurt if you are working with quail, duck or goose eggs, but vinegar is contraindicated for chicken shells.
You can paint not only a full egg, but also a blown egg. Dip the paper into egg white and seal both ends. Punch holes and drill them to a millimeter diameter. After this, use a straw to blow out the egg. You can also blow out an egg using a medical syringe: slowly introduce air into the egg; The white and yolk will flow down the needle. The paper can be peeled off, the empty shells washed and dried.

Paints
Natural, food or aniline dyes are used to dye eggs. The raw materials for producing plant dyes can be flowers, leaves, grain husks, bark, roots, and berries.
- yellow paint of various shades is extracted from the bark of a young wild apple tree, poplar shoots, birch leaves, nettle root, buckwheat chaff, onion peels, wild elderberry flowers, chamomile, milkweed, adonis, kupavka, saffron, crocus, St. John's wort, yellow flowers of the bulbous plant dream ;
- blue, cyan or purple - from the husks of black sunflower grains, poplar catkins, mallow flowers, blue flowers of the dream plant, snowdrops, blueberries and elderberries;
- green - from a combination of yellow and blue paints, as well as from moss, buckthorn bark, ash, lily of the valley leaves, primrose, nettle, green rye and wheat;
- red - from sandalwood chips, bird cherry berries, flowers and seeds of St. John's wort, as well as from dried females of the Polish cochineal (an insect from the scale insect family);
- soft pink - from flowers of fireweed angustifolia;
- brown - from the bark of apple, oak, buckthorn, fir cones, onion peels, walnut or horse chestnut leaves;
- black - from young leaves of black maple, alder bark, blue sandalwood.
It is best to harvest the roots in early spring or late autumn, the bark only in the spring, when the tree is “crying,” the flowers at the beginning of flowering, and the leaves when they are very young. To prevent the potion from losing its color, it should be dried only in the shade, and stored in a tightly closed container in a dry, dark place. Coloring berries can be frozen.
To prepare the paints you will also need:
- earthenware or enamel dishes,
- melt or rain water,
- potassium alum.
Fill the raw material with cold water, leave for 5-6 hours, and then boil over low heat: bark for three hours, leaves for about forty minutes, flowers for half an hour. For 100 grams of dry raw materials - 1 liter of melt water. Strain the broth and add a teaspoon of alum. The paint is ready. Dyeing eggs with natural dyes lasts from 10 minutes to 14 hours. This is a painstaking task, but it is redeemed by the healing properties of natural colors. In addition, they are stronger, more familiar and look a hundred times richer than any artificial dyes. Food coloring should be diluted according to the factory instructions.
Aniline dyes are available in powder or tablet form and are sold in hardware stores. You need to buy those that are intended for home dyeing of wool products. Prepare the concentrate according to the instructions. Divide half a liter of concentrate into three parts, pour into glass jars, add 150-200 grams of boiled water and 2 tablespoons of 9 percent vinegar to each of the three parts. If desired, you can add a little paint of a different color to the first two parts to get a wide range of shades. But such an egg cannot be eaten.

Dyeing
The egg is placed on a plastic spoon and dipped in paint.

The paint contains acid, and if the egg is soaked in food paint for more than five minutes, and in aniline paint for more than three, the calcium in the top layer of the shell will be damaged, the egg will be unevenly colored and will be hopelessly spoiled. Having painted one egg, remove it from the paint, carefully blot it with a soft napkin and begin painting another. There are food dyes that only color eggs during cooking. They are suitable for making plain dyes. The variety of colors of paints and Easter eggs is achieved by layer-by-layer application of paints to the egg and the obligatory preliminary reservation of each color with wax. This is a famous batik method. Having completed painting and dyeing, the wax on the egg needs to be melted over a candle flame or in the oven, and then removed from the shell with a napkin.

Aniline or food dyes must be heated in a water bath before use. The paint should be warm, but not hot, otherwise the wax will melt prematurely. For the same reason, pysanka or batik dye cannot be cooked in food or aniline paint. The exception is natural dyes. Eggs painted with wax can be kept in a vegetable dye solution until fully dyed, and then boiled in the same paint. Remove the finished Easter eggs from the hot paint and remove the wax from the shell with a napkin.

Dyeing always starts with light colors and ends with dark ones. Traditional colors of Easter eggs ornaments: white, yellow, red and black. But instead of black, brown, green or purple paint was sometimes used, and instead of red, lilac. A pysanka painted in violation of color symbolism was popularly called a malevanka. Green color was allowed on paints. There were even plain green, trinity, and dyed ones. If you apply red paint to green paint, the egg will turn red.

The paint “does not paint” if it is cold, or the vinegar has evaporated, or the egg is stale, or the chicken was poorly fed; and also if the craftswoman left greasy stains on the shell. Take care of your hands. Don't skimp on napkins. After preparing each pysanka, you will have to wash your hands with soap. You cannot lubricate them with cream, so as not to stain the shell with fat. There is a way out: we paint all thirty eggs on a white field with wax, then paint them one by one in yellow paint, paint them again - paint them red, etc. You will only have to wash your hands at the end of the work. If your palms are wet, keep the egg in a napkin when painting. A blown egg does not sink in paint; you need to take a deep spoon. Before painting a blown egg, be sure to seal the holes with wax, otherwise the paint will get inside the shell. And one more thing: if there are small children in the family, try to do without aniline dyes.

Napkins
When performing pysanka, white napkins are required. It is good to blot the colored egg with paper napkins, but it is still better to remove the melted wax from the shell with a cloth. It’s good if you have cotton rags: old sheets, knitted fabric. A linen napkin soaked in wax subsequently does not remove the wax from the egg completely, but polishes the shell, leaving a pattern under a thin wax film, and then there is no need to cover the souvenir pysanka with varnish, which, although it protects the paint and slightly strengthens the shell, deprives the pysanka of its naturalness.

Wax and paraffin
To protect the color, it is best to use pure beeswax. You can buy it from beekeepers, at the market and in stores selling honey. If you bought wax and are not sure that it is well filtered, melt it in a saucepan over moderate heat and strain through a fine sieve. You can add a little dry dark food coloring to the hot wax. When painted, the colored wax is clearly visible on the egg shell.

Paraffin lines do not last as well as wax lines; they may break during operation. Paraffin is indispensable if it is necessary to reserve large areas of the egg, when blowing raw pysanka, and also to strengthen the shell. The finished raw pysanka is first dipped into molten paraffin and only then holes are drilled in the shell and the contents of the egg are blown out. The blown pysanka is strengthened from the inside as follows: using a glass medical syringe, 5 cubes of hot paraffin are injected into the pysanka, after which the egg is rotated in the hands until it cools down. In this case, the paraffin envelops the shell with a film. In the same way, you can strengthen the shell using PVA glue, the only difference being that after enveloping the shell with glue, sifted sawdust is poured inside the egg. Paraffin candles should be pure white and odorless. Thin wax candles are needed to apply specks to the egg shell.

Pencil
When making pysanka, a novice master first applies a pattern to the egg with a soft pencil and only then covers this pattern with wax. If the pencil is hard, then its mark will remain on the finished pysanka.

Tassels
You can apply wax to the egg with a pin, match, straw, nail head, burning candle, quill feather, steel poster pen and, of course, a homemade or factory-made brush. A homemade brush is a funnel-shaped tube 1 - 1.5 cm long rolled up from foil. The tube is attached using tow or thin copper wire on a wooden holder with a diameter of 8 mm and a length of 10-12 cm. There should be several such brushes. While working, they need to be dipped in melted wax. While you write to one, the others are waiting for their turn in hot wax. Excellent brushes are made of brass, the writing tip of which has a hole located strictly in the center. The thickness of the drawing lines depends on the diameter of the writing tip and the diameter of its hole. It is advisable to have a set of brushes for thick, thin and medium lines. How to use such a brush: heat the head of the brush over an open fire (candle, lamp, gas burner) and fill it with wax. To avoid blots, use a napkin to remove excess wax from the body of the brush and begin painting the egg.

Your tool doesn't write if:
- hold both the egg and the brush incorrectly. Take the egg in your left hand and the brush in your right. Press your elbows to your body. The writing hand needs support, otherwise it will tremble. Place the little finger of your right hand on the surface of the egg. Using the fingers of your left hand, rotate the egg toward you, and draw the lines away from you, trying, if possible, not to change the position of your writing hand;
- the wax has cooled down. Warm the head of the brush without plunging the nose into the fire;
- the wax has run out. Fill the brush with wax;
- the brush is clogged. Warm up the head of the brush and clean the hole with a thin wire;
- an air lock has formed. Remove it by piercing the bubble with the same wire; - the nose of the brush is pressed firmly against the surface of the egg. Relieve tension from your writing hand;
- your hand has been in the wrong hands. The reason for this is someone else's handwriting.
An important rule: to avoid burns, when heating the brush, do not immerse the holder in the fire and do not bring the wax to a boil. After work, there is no need to remove the remaining wax from the brushes.

KRASHENKA

Heat food colors in a water bath. Boil the eggs over low heat and cool them. Light a thin wax candle and cover the egg with hot droplets of wax. Do not forget to rotate the egg and make sure that the droplets do not spread.
Paint the egg yellow and cover it again with drops of wax, and then bathe it in scarlet paint. Blot it, cover it with drops of wax, then repaint it yellow and dip it in green paint. Also drip some wax onto the green shell and paint your future paint a dark blue final color.
Now place the egg in a warm oven (100 ° C) or bring it to the fire, but do not immerse it in the flame. You can also use a hairdryer. When the wax on the egg melts, carefully remove it with a soft linen napkin. Krashenka-kapanka ready.

Repeat everything from the beginning, but around the wax droplets, draw petals, curls, rays with a brush... - and then the sun will shine on the paint, the flowers will bloom... If the wax droplet still flows, draw wings on it. A moth will flutter on the paint. Draw fins and the fish will swim.

For flour dye start your reservation not with white, but with yellow. Drop the wax droplets like scales, so that later the red pea peeks out from under the yellow one, the green one from under the yellow and red one... Instead of the final paint, immerse the egg in table vinegar diluted in half with water. After 20 minutes, remove the egg from the acid and wash with soap and cold water. Blot thoroughly. Melt the wax. Multi-colored polka dots, precisely engraved, will appear in relief on the white surface of the egg.

Dip an egg in yellow paint and then in red - you have a red egg or plain paint. Regardless of whether there is yellow in the pattern or not, the egg is initially painted with yellow paint. A plain paint will become “marbled” if you add a drop of vegetable oil to the paint or rub the shell with sandpaper before painting.

For iconic paint Make yourself a signet (poke) from a wooden stick with a diameter of 0.8 and a length of 10-12 cm and a small “shoe” nail with a round head. Heat the poke cap over a fire, dip it in wax and immediately apply a dot to the egg. From the dots you will get a “cross”, “circle”, “necklace”, “grapes”, “flower”...

Using a file, the round head of the poke can be turned into a triangular one. And then the pattern on the egg will not be made of dots, but of tiny wedges. Set the poke aside. With the nose of a properly heated brush, lightly tap the shell once or twice and, as soon as a drop of wax appears on the egg, without letting it cool, immediately turn it into a “comma”... When painting bird eggs for Easter, Western Slavs choose a “wedge” “comma”, “dot”, eastern and southern - prefer a line. As a rule, there is one magical sign on the paint. “Circles” or “crosses” are placed randomly on the surface of the egg. The iconic krashenka preceded the ritual pysanka.

Ornaments of ritual pysanka
The ornament of Easter eggs is symbolic. It is based on three cardinal symbols that reflect the vertical structure of the Universe: a circle, a square (or rhombus) and a center, the world axis, in the form of a cross, a tree, an 8-shaped sign. Hence there are three types of ornament: circular, key, braided:

The design of the ornament is called a pattern and is a grid formed from the intersection of circles and ovals encircling the egg. Ornamental forms - magical signs-symbols - are placed in the divorce fields. If the egg is divided in two vertically by a belt and mainly its sides are decorated, then such a pysanka is called a side pysanka. The main dividing belt can be in the form of a thread, a ribbon, decorated or undecorated. It may be absent altogether, but the principle of placement of the main ornamental forms is preserved. Thus, we have Easter eggs “belted” and “unbelted”. Divide the egg in half along the meridian, and then into four parts. The marks will be placed in the resulting segments of the egg, and such a pysanka will be called longitudinal based on the type of pattern. The “eight-round” pattern consists of eight spheroidal segments formed from four equal vertical lobes of the egg, surrounded by the equator line.

The main types of structures are connected by transitional connections. Suppose an ornamented belt divides the surface of the egg into two hemispheres vertically. Each of the resulting fields will be called large. A star, cross or tree can be inscribed in such a field. If large fields are interrupted along the equator, meridian, diagonal or radius, and ornamental forms, alternating or repeating, are placed in each of the resulting segments, then we get divorce-breaks. And everything here is subordinated to the idea of ​​the Universe, the structure and essence of the Universe.
The circular type divorce through the “field breaks” is followed by the “saddlebag” type divorce, the “braiding” type.

Ornamental forms are placed in the fields vertically, diagonally, radially, and segment. They alternate in a checkerboard pattern and are repeated. The same sign may be placed in opposite directions.

If the ornament as a whole is characterized by rhythm, then the ornaments of Easter eggs allow us to talk about tempo-rhythm. Ornamental forms based on a broken cross and swastika create the impression of movement - rotation of the two halves of the egg in opposite directions.

The craftswomen gave the Easter eggs names. The name was also a symbol, a talisman. Sometimes these were scarecrow names. By hiding the true name, evil spirits could not only be scared away, but also deceived. Thorny plants were also among the most powerful amulets. Among the names of Easter eggs, “rose” predominates: “rose with combs”, “rose with rakes”, “rose with little flowers”, “rose with infinity”, “empty rose”, “full rose”, “cross rose”, “guard rose” ", "dog rose", "mangy rose"... Over time, when the content of pagan symbols began to be forgotten, images of churches and church utensils appeared in the ornaments of Easter eggs, patterns were copied from vestments, hence the "throne" Easter eggs, "priest's vestments" , "golgota" (calvary), etc.

Ornamental motifs

It happened that the name of a ritual painted egg depended only on the name of one of the leading ornamental forms in the composition that determine the style of the Easter egg: “Windmills”, “Corners”, “Poppy”, “Dawns”, “Pannas”, “Pletenka”, “Beans” , “Spiders”, “Bird Feet”, “Bass Ear”, etc. Easter eggs ornaments have their own local characteristics, not to mention the fact that each craftswoman had her own handwriting. The style of pysanka is determined primarily by a set of certain means of expression. Ornamental forms were filled or framed with strokes and dots; in other cases we see the coloring of the fields, a combination of shading and dots, shading and coloring, shading and drops - a drop on a shaded field or outside it; simultaneous combination of dot, drop, blot and hatching; filling ornamental forms with a mesh, the so-called “silk writing”, a combination of mesh and drops, mesh and coloring. Color and the selection of paints play a significant role in the style of Easter eggs. The style of Easter eggs is also determined by the method of applying wax to the egg; the pattern can be made with a line, a wedge, a “comma” (“apple seed”).

You can see detailed illustrations of all types of ornaments in the appendix.

Pysanka mastery
Cooking Easter eggs is an activity that requires privacy and peace of mind. The most enjoyable thing is to paint a raw chicken egg. His defenselessness and fragility make every movement of the craftswoman’s hands careful, her touch gentle. And if you believe that the Universe is in your palms, that it is just as fragile and defenseless... Rotating the egg, you lightly massage the fingertips of your left hand, and the warmth of your soul penetrates into the future Easter egg. Dreams take wings. A wax line runs along the shell, braiding, encircling, protecting the egg. If your hand disobeys, do not scrape trying to correct the mistake. The pysanka is spoiled, don’t worry, cook it with fried eggs.
Before painting with wax, learn how to apply a design with a simple pencil and not on raw, but on boiled eggs. And remember that lines on a spherical surface are arcs. Guide them constantly in one direction, rotating the egg, either toward you or only away from you. A table of the design of the Easter eggs ornament is also included in the appendix to this article. So that the work does not seem boring to you, count the dividing belts. An odd number of belts gives an even number of fields.
If the drawing is copied correctly, try covering its lines with wax. The wax line should be long, then there will be few joints and they will be less noticeable. Grid lines can be bold; outlines of ornamental shapes, unless they include design lines, should be done with a brush No. 2, medium size. And for shading, brush No. 1 is suitable. It is better to start shading the wedge from the base and finish at the top. To prevent the strokes from “falling”, the belt must first be divided into squares. The same applies to the mesh. We cover the fields with wax, but not with strokes, but with a spiral, and the size of the brush that framed the field, otherwise the wax will lie unevenly on the shell, sometimes barely noticeable individual areas of the field will remain unprotected, and therefore unpainted in the color you need.
When you learn to divide the surface of the egg into fields and place a pattern in them, when the brush becomes submissive, take a raw, fresh chicken egg and start making pysanka. At the next stage of mastery, try making the same pattern in different styles. Avoid compasses and erasers, try to do without a pencil and do not put an elastic band on the egg. Support the writing hand, rotate the egg in one direction, the tip of the brush at a right angle to the working surface - and the line will be excellent. If your hand trembles a little from excitement, it’s not scary and even not bad: the drawing will be alive, because dry, cold geometry tires the eye.
Pysanka - magic or science? Pysanka is first and foremost an art. But the one who created the Easter egg had a brilliant knowledge of astronomy, geometry, botany, philosophy, personality psychology, and the laws of harmony. If you feel the ornament as a prayer, then you will know how to draw the morning dawn on an egg, a sown field, spring waters, the sun and the moon, a paradise apple tree, a flower and a seed, heaven and earth, two loving hearts, a magic lock and key.

This type of folk art is common among many Slavic peoples, including Ukrainian.

Pysanka//galunka// - symbol of the Sun; life, his immortality; love and beauty; spring revival; goodness, happiness, joy.

In the myths of many peoples of the world, it is the egg that is the source of peace. Among the pagan Slavs, Easter eggs existed already during the time of the Antes - our ancestors / III - VIII centuries. n. e./ and were a symbol of the solar cult. Birds are the messengers of spring resurrection, the Sun, and their testicles are the emblem of the sun - life, birth.

A bird's egg in general is the embryo of life, a symbol of the sun god; In ancient times it symbolized goodness, joy, happiness, love, wealth, success, the location of good forces, human protection from evil forces.
Kilimnik S. Ukrainian year. - Book 2. - P.176

Researchers believe that Ukrainian pysanka has more than 100 symbolic drawings.

With the introduction of Christianity, the symbolism of Easter eggs gradually changed. It has become a symbol of joy and faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a symbol of forgiveness. Easter eggs were used as an objectified symbol of love, giving them to young people. In folk medicine they were used to “pump out” diseases. Blessed Easter eggs were buried in the ground /for a high harvest/, placed in a coffin, in a manger for livestock. The husks from pysanka were thrown “for luck” onto the roof of the house, etc. It is interesting that pysankar-making was characteristic only of those ethnic groups that began to be called Ukrainians.

The ornament of Easter eggs is symbolic. It is based on three cardinal symbols, reflecting the structure of the Universe vertically: this is a circle, a square (or rhombus) and a center, the world axis, in the form of a cross, a tree, an 8-shaped sign. Hence there are three types of ornament: circular, key, and braided.
The design of the ornament is called a pattern and is a grid formed from the intersection of circles and ovals encircling the egg. Ornamental forms - magical signs-symbols - are placed in the divorce fields.

If the egg is divided in two vertically by a belt and mainly its sides are decorated, then such a pysanka is called a side pysanka. The main dividing belt can be in the form of a thread, a ribbon, decorated or undecorated. It may be absent altogether, but the principle of placement of the main ornamental forms is preserved. Thus, we have Easter eggs “belted” and “unbelted”. Divide the egg in half along the meridian, and then into four parts. The marks will be placed in the resulting segments of the egg, and such a pysanka will be called longitudinal based on the type of pattern. The “eight-round” pattern consists of eight spheroidal segments formed from four equal vertical lobes of the egg, surrounded by the equator line.
Mesh- a symbol of fate. Protects from evil spirits, separates evil from good.
Yellow mesh- a symbol of the sun and fate that is being built here.
Dots- a symbol of fertility.

Ornamental forms are placed in the fields vertically, diagonally, radially, and segment. They alternate in a checkerboard pattern and are repeated. The same sign may be placed in opposite directions.
If the ornament as a whole is characterized by rhythm, then the ornaments of Easter eggs allow us to talk about tempo-rhythm. Ornamental forms based on a broken cross and swastika create the impression of movement - rotation of the two halves of the egg in opposite directions.

Meanings of symbols used when painting Easter eggs

Sun

One of the most common elements in Pysanky ornament is image of the Sun in the form of various solar signs. The sun is a heavenly fire, about which people at different times had their own ideas, but always respected and exalted them. It was represented as a hole through which one can see the real bright sky, a spark, it is unknown how it stays in the sky, like the Eye of God a candle, carrying angels, like a large wheel that can be reached even by hand when it falls to the ground in the evening. The sunrise revives, awakens the whole world, gives warmth, light and strength to all living things. in spring The sun destroyed the cold, broke ice bridges, opened the sky and earth with its rays (golden keys), released birds from warm regions, green grass, spring wheat. On Easter eggs Sun marked with signs in the form circle, circle with circle points with a cross inside, circles with rays, as well as in the form of six- and eight-ray rosettes, stars.
Easter eggs with the image of the Sun are often called “roses”, “roses”, which can be full, simple, half, vertical, in the form of “spiders”. Under the name “Stars” we also find the image of the Sun as a bright star, but in folk poetry the image of the morning and evening dawn of Venus is sung. Dawn is a beautiful maiden who in the morning opens the heavenly gates with her keys and releases the Sun, chasing after her. Dawn scatters dew on the ground, and the bees collect God's dew and give honey to people. Dawn is compared to a good, beautiful girl. "Spiders" were often called and are now called “sleeves”, “woman’s sleeves”, “grandfather’s sleeves”; stars - “roses”, “full roses”, “Ruzhechka”.

Christ is called the Sun of Truth. The Savior said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever comes after me will not blukatime in darkness, but will have the light of life" (Yo. 8, 12). His light is internal, spiritual. God is light, and truth, Freedom. Thus, the Sun is the sign of God. Solar light - It is a symbol of unity, the order of peace.It is also a symbol of a clear and sober vision, Justice.

Cross and svarga (swastika)

Cross symbolizes the creation of the world. The vertical line of the cross means heaven, spirituality, the horizontal line means the earth, its feminine principle. The cross is eternal life, since it is infinite.

Among the most ancient signs symbolizing the universe is "Cross". Known since the Stone Age, it is a sign of the three-dimensionality of the Universe. The full cross is a three-dimensional, spatial symbol, since it is formed by the intersection of two planes. The vertical line of the cross is a heavenly line, spiritually active, masculine. This is a Fire sign. The horizontal line is earthly, passive, feminine. This is a Water sign. At the intersection (combination) of these two factors, a third force arises - the force of Love, Life, Creation. The cross is capable of expanding endlessly in any direction, therefore, it signifies eternal life. In the ancient beliefs of the Stone Age, the cross was associated with the God of the Earth, denoted the 4 cardinal directions, and later, in the Bronze Age, became the emblem of the Sun. The graphic designation of this sign comes from the schematic designation of a flying bird, since in ancient mythology the Sun was identified with it. “Svarga” is one of the varieties of the cross. Other names for this sign are “swastika”, “chotirinig”. This graphic symbol, found in almost all ancient or primary cults of the world, is found on the ancient monuments of the Indo-European peoples.

The word “swastika” is of ancient Indian origin (Sanskrit) and means “celestial rotation”.

The basis of the graphic image of this sign can be a cross (symbol of the Earth, and later the Sun in the center), a circle (symbol of the sky), or a square (sign of the Earth). In the Bronze Age, svarga was already associated with the solar cult, and the rounded spurs symbolized the movement of the Sun. There are two types of svarga: direct (right-sided) and reverse (left-sided). Straight svarga with rounded spurs to the right side, clockwise, symbolizes the sunrise, creation, the movement of the sun in spring and summer, goodness, positive, masculine energy (Yang). Reverse svarga with rounded spurs to the left, counterclockwise, symbolizes the sunset, destruction, the movement of the Sun in autumn and winter, evil, negative, feminine energy (Yin). Svarga is also familiar, promotes the birth of children, a symbol of good wishes, good luck, longevity, fertility, health and life. On Ukrainian Easter eggs, svarga is also called “broken” or “hook cross”, “leeches”, “cockscombs”, “duck necks”.

The tree of Life

One of the most common symbols on Easter eggs, as well as on towels, wall paintings, carpets, and dishes, is Tree of Life symbol, or as it is also called - "pot". The most ancient Ukrainian carols brought to us the ancient ideas of people about those times when there was neither heaven nor earth, but only the open sea, and on it - green sycamore. So, in the form of a tree - poplar, willow, oak, birch, apple tree, pear - the core of the universe was imagined, around which the balance of opposites was established. The world tree is always depicted not natural, but stylized, i.e. simplified, generalized. In such images, it is necessary to divide them into three tiers vertically and maintain a clear system of right and left sides. The lower part - the roots, going underground, is often represented in the form of a triangle, a pot. It contains snakes, fish, waterfowl and animals, therefore part of the tree is not only the underworld, but also the sea, river, all water. Also, the lower part of the World Tree is the world of the underworld god, the lord of the underworld fire and untold riches are the embodiment of ideas about the other world, the old days. The middle tier represents the earth, the real world, the world of the present. Large animals are depicted here - bulls, horses, deer, wolves, bears - and humans. The upper part of the World Tree rises to boundless heights - to God. Birds, bees, and heavenly bodies settle in the upper reaches. It often happens that the sun shines on the top of a tree. The tree of life is also a family tree, where each flower represents a relative, and all together is the embodiment of the genealogy of a particular person. A simpler three-member designation for a tree-family. This is a trunk with three branches: father, mother, child.

An amazing property of the Tree of Life is its ability to turn into a Coast Guard Woman with her hands raised to the sky. By the way, in the ancient myths of some peoples of the world, a woman was formed from wood. The image of the World Tree is an image of embodied fertility, associated with the Mother Goddess, and is her symbol and attribute.

The great goddess was considered the mistress not only of the sky, but of all nature. Often, the sign of the earth was depicted on her feet (in this case, the goddess’s feet turned into roots) or she was drawn as a snake-footed woman, since the earth is the place of residence of the Serpent. A similar image of a female ancestor was widely known among other peoples: among the Egyptians - Isis, among the Babylonians - Ishtar, among the Greeks - Hera, among the Thracians - Semele, among the Scythian farmers - Tabitha.

In Ukrainian ornaments, the “Tree of Life”, as a rule, was depicted very realistically. Trees of unsurpassed beauty were embroidered on huge towels from the Kiev and Poltava regions. And on Easter eggs they gradually acquired the laconic form of the now well-known “flowerpots” and “three-leafed flowers”. At the same time, even in ancient times, the abstract image of the “Tree of Life” - a “trident”, which later became the coat of arms of Ukraine, began to dominate.

Triquetra or tripod

On many folk Easter eggs there is an image of Fire, Sun, Dawn. Fire, next to water, is a factor of the universe, a symbol of male power. Since Fire and Water are brother and sister, and, having united, they formed love, the earth and everything that is on it, then in many rituals Fire is a symbol of love, which is the messenger of the Sun on Earth and gives people light, warmth, bread and all kinds of food, helps in crafts (forging), but, like the Sun, it can be good or dangerous depending on people’s attitude towards it. Therefore, Fire, like the Sun, must be respected and not anger - because then it can severely punish. There are strict prohibitions against spitting on fire, throwing garbage, etc. Triquetra- a symbol of fertility, fire, masculine strength.

On Easter eggs, Fire is indicated by the sign “three-armed” (other names for this sign are “triquetra”, “tripod”). It is believed that the tricorn is a sign associated with the Neolithic (Stone Age) god of the earth, and fire was one of his attributes. This sign is also a symbol of fertility, since the God of the earth was the bearer of the male, fertilizing factor. a triangular hook consists of three rounded or broken hooks extending from a common center, or from a circle or triangle.

Charm symbols

The exhibit, stored in the Kiev Historical Museum, bears the symbolic name - “Bereginya”. As we know, in pre-Christian times our ancestors believed in the Great Goddess - Bereginya or Makos. This symbolic image - a stylized female figure with her hands raised up - subsequently turned into a plot reproduction of the Mother of God.

Sigma- symbol of a snake. Found on ceramics of the Trypillian culture. Means water, thunder, lightning. The snake guards the home.

Symbols of strength and endurance

In the old days in Rus', as soon as a girl was born, she was washed in a font made from a decoction of viburnum and willow leaves. They gave feminine strength, the woman then becomes a good wife and gives birth to healthy children. When a boy was born, an oak tree was planted in his honor and the baby was bathed in an infusion of oak leaves. Oak leaf - so that the strength does not deplete.

Symbols of love

Since ancient times, the dove has been considered a symbol of love. If you want to have a happy family, then draw doves on an oak tree. Love is also symbolized by the spruce tree (Smereka). In order to find out how many years later a girl will get married, they ask the cuckoo about it. Therefore, the cuckoo is a symbol of love. And in order to always be paired with your loved one, they draw flowers with paired petals.

Symbols promoting the birth of children

Symbols of health and longevity

So that no one gets sick, they draw a sun, a rose, a fish, a deer on the testicles. And the endless thing helps people live long, so that misfortune comes to them and so that beekeepers have a good honey harvest.

Symbols favoring a rich harvest

The diamond is a symbol of earth, the dots are seeds, and the rake is a symbol of rain.

Symbols that heal

Warning symbols

To reduce disasters, take care of your households. Easter eggs with warning symbols will also help you. “Wolf teeth” and “bear paws” will remind you of predatory animals, “rabbit ears” will remind you of the need to protect vegetables, and the “raven beak” on a pysanka will remind you of the danger of birds of prey. If such Easter eggs are kept at home, they will protect pets and remind them of danger

Christian symbols

These were Christian symbols. One depicted a beautiful church, the other depicted 40 wedges, and there were also Easter eggs with crosses surrounded by an endless border and with the inscription “Christ is Risen.” Triangle often found on Easter eggs and denotes the trinity of the world: sky, earth and water, father, mother and child.

Plant and animal motifs

Pysankarkas constantly drew inspiration for their designs from the natural world, depicting flowers, trees, vegetables, leaves and entire plants in highly stylized ways. Such symbols reflected the renewal of nature and life. The most popular floral design is a flowering plant in a pot or a tree, which symbolized life. Cherry, a symbol of girlish beauty, was supposed to bewitch love. On Hutsul Easter eggs you can often see a stylized pine branch - a symbol of eternal life and youth. There is a belief that anyone who washes their face with sacred water containing Easter eggs will always be young, healthy and beautiful. The grape motif symbolized brotherhood, goodwill and long-term, faithful love. The ornament of apples and plums was supposed to bring wisdom and health. Among the flowers depicted on the Easter eggs were roses, periwinkles, lilies of the valley, sunflowers, tulips and carnations. All of them were supposed to help the plants mature. Pine- a symbol of health.
Oak- a symbol of strength.
Plums- a symbol of love.
Hop- a symbol of fertility.
Any berry- symbol of fertility; mother.
Flowers- a symbol of girlhood. Although animal motifs are not as popular on Easter eggs as plant ones, we still see them, especially on Hutsul products. These symbols had a dual meaning: to provide their owners with the best attributes of animals, such as health and strength, and to assure a long and fruitful life for the animals. Animals such as deer, rams, horses, fish and birds were drawn abstractly; sometimes pysankars reproduced only parts of animals - duck necks, hare ears, chicken feet, ox eyes, ram horns, wolf teeth, bear paws. Rooster and dove- were considered a bird of God that would awaken the sun and human conscience, keeping everyone living in the house under its wing; the latter were written as a symbol of the soul and the Holy Spirit.
Horse meant strength and love of work.
Running deer was a prototype of longevity and good health.
Pigeon- a symbol of the soul.

Everything around us has its own special meaning. And even if our ancestors were not as educated as people in modern times, their ideas about the Universe as a fragile egg are a vivid example of the ability to “get to the root”

Even our pagan ancestors attributed special magical properties to the egg. A blown raw egg with an ornament “written” on it served as a powerful amulet in pre-Christian times. Each element of the ornament necessarily corresponded to a deep design, but the entire composition ultimately represented a single harmonious whole.

With the advent of Christianity, the egg, as a symbol of regenerating life, found its place of honor in religious rites. Also, many legends later appeared explaining the semantic connection of the painted egg with the story of the Resurrection. Here is one of them.

ORIGIN OF PYSANKA

When Jesus was crucified. His wounds began to bleed. Drops of blood turned into paint before everyone’s eyes. The Mother of God standing nearby, sobbing, prayed fervently. Drops of mother's tears spread across the paints in unprecedented patterns, turning them into Easter eggs. Having collected all the dyes and Easter eggs, the Mother of God went to Pontius Pilate with a request to give her the opportunity to bury her Son. On the way, she handed out Easter eggs to those she met with wishes for peace and harmony.

Easter eggs in Rus' were never made for oneself, but only as a gift. If you know how many relatives a person had in those days and how closely people communicated with each other, then sometimes the whole family would paint eggs, just so as not to forget or offend anyone. By giving the pysanka, the person seemed to be saying: here, I wish you happiness and health. There were also masters of painting eggs; they were called pysankars and had their own secrets.

Knowledge of color.

Red- joy of life, fire, solemnity, positivity.
4D- earth, other life. (Used as an element of a design or as a background on which a pattern will be applied.)
Brown- fertility, symbol of wisdom.
Yellow orange - sunshine, rich harvest.
Blue- air, sky, wishes for health.
Green- the resurrection of nature after a long winter sleep.
combination 4-black and white - respect for ancestors, holiness.
Multicolor- wishes of love and family happiness.

Knowledge of symbols.

TREE
“Tree of Life” is one of the most popular ancient Slavic symbols. The purpose of this symbol, along with respect for nepotism - “clan”, was the wish for longevity. Depicting cherries, they attracted love, pine branches symbolized youth and long life. The vine motif signified fidelity. Apples and cream wishes for wisdom and health.

"BEREGINYA"
The image of a female figure with her arms raised up is a traditional pre-Christian symbol of the goddess of fertility and the foremother of all living things. From ancient times to this day, a woman has been the protector of the gods and the wise guardian of destinies.

FISH
Before the fish became one of the main Christian symbols, its image was a talisman of prosperity, as well as a metaphorical image of vitality, purity and transparency of thoughts.

RAKERS
An agricultural symbol signifying rain and fertility. With the advent of Christianity, I received an additional interpretation of the descending divine grace.

PAU4OK
Such an outwardly unpleasant and even repulsive spider, thanks to the observation and wisdom of its ancestors, received a semantic meaning as a graphic symbol of hard work and perseverance, and became the patron of artistic crafts.

BABO4KA
A symbol of happiness, lightness and carefreeness, it was most often used to decorate Easter eggs intended to be given to children.

P4ELA
In addition to her enormous diligence and commitment to family values, she also personified sincerity of soul and innocence. Pysanky with the image of a bee were hidden under beehives so that the bees would “swarm” well.

TO4KI
Initially, the currents, randomly scattered on the surface of the pysanka or forming a lace ornament, symbolized the stars in the sky. With the advent of Christianity, they began to symbolize the tears of the Mother of God mourning her Son.

HORSE AND DEER
Symbols of endurance and fortitude, personifying the masculine face. On his branchy antlers, the hard-working deer carries the sun into the sky every morning. The horse is an image of fearlessness and reckless faith in goodness.

BIRDS
Birds, harbingers of spring, are a popular ornamental motif. For example, the rooster is the herald of the coming morning, praising the sunshine and protecting against the influence of evil forces. Lasto4ka - the long-awaited arrival of spring.

SQUARE AND RHOMBUS
The 4 elements, 4 seasons, 4 life stages (birth, youth, maturity and old age), 4 cardinal directions and times of day were successfully encrypted into the sides of the square. The mesh “square” “sieve” ornament symbolized the eternal division of the concepts of good and evil.

SPIRAL
This symbol represented primitive ideas about the structure of the Universe. The line twisted in a spiral also meant water or a coiled snake, personifying the feminine face. In addition, the spiral was identified with a labyrinth that “confuses” evil forces on the way to the 4th soul.

FLOWERS AND LEAVES
Wishing for an addition to the family, the pysanka was decorated with images of flowers: bells, periwinkle, lilies of the valley, carnations. Viburnum leaves signified strength, endurance, faith in justice. Oak leaves symbolized faith in the forces of nature and worship of the gods.

BESCONE4NIK
The wavy line is the predecessor of the cruciform symbolism. Rooted in Trypillian culture, this symbol of eternal movement and continuity of life is to this day an indispensable attribute of Pysankar art. "Meander" is interpreted as a symbol of water, fertility and the life cycle.

SUN
The symbol of the sun is one of the most ancient. Varieties of this symbol are octagonal stars, “broken crosses” and “steep slopes”, “running sun”. A pysanka decorated with a solar symbol protects against illness, the evil eye, and misfortune and attracts joy and prosperity.

TRIANGLE
The triple threat - earth, man and sky - found its expression in this symbol. A triangle filled with a set or linear hatching signified a plowed field among our ancestors. In the Christian interpretation, forty triangles acquired the meaning of forty days of fasting or forty martyrs.