Historical Museum
of Southern Florida
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Historical Museum
of Southern Florida |
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Ola Kryway - Psyanky
According to an Ukrainian myth, the Madonna brought eggs when she attempted to see Pontius Pilate to ask him to spare Christ’s life. When denied admittance by Pilate’s guards, she began to cry. As her tears fell on the eggs, they turned brilliant colors. The colored eggs rolled to the end of the earth, where an evil dragon was held in chains. Traditional belief maintains that each decorated Easter egg adds a link to the chains that keep evil in check. The psyanky tradition is rich in symbolism; the egg itself is a sign of rebirth or resurrection. Contemporary designs incorporate a variety of symbolic motifs, some dating from pre-Christian times. For example, a ribbon or belt around the egg means eternity; a rooster, as the messenger of light, is a symbol of Christ; and a butterfly signifies resurrection. Kryway begins the pysanky process by drawing a design on an egg with a pencil. Next she applies beeswax to the area that is to remain white and dyes the egg with the lightest color. When the first color is dry, she adds wax to part of this colored area and dyes the egg with another color. This sequence is repeated with increasingly darker colors, until the design is complete. After the final dye bath, she pierces both ends of the egg with a pin or needle and blows out the contents. To remove the wax, she then places the egg in her kitchen oven for a few minutes at 200 degrees. Removing the egg from the oven, says Kryway, is the most exciting part, since it is the first time she gets to see the results of her work. “An egg is organic,” she explains. “You never can tell how it’s going to take colors.” After the egg cools, she rubs on a coat of varnish or shellac with her hands. Participating in exhibits and giving psyanky workshops provides Kryway with opportunities to meet Floridians of Ukrainian descent and share her heritage with others. “When I start this Easter egg business, they come out of the woodwork,” she says. - Robert Stone Photograph courtesy of Ola Kryway www.historical-museum.org
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Ola Kryway of Titusville decorates Easter eggs with the centuries-old
Ukrainian method known as pysanky. Pysanky is a meticulous wax-resist
technique, in which a tool called a kystka is used to apply melted beeswax
to an egg and a series of dye baths results in a detailed design. Kryway
has been practicing this art for over 60 years. She grew up in Montreal
in a Ukrainian immigrant family that actively preserved Old World culture
in its New World home. She learned the technique and symbols of pysanky
as a young girl from her mother, sisters, aunts and cousins. They all
would work together for several weeks before Easter to decorate eggs.
On Easter morning the eggs were blessed in church, then given to friends
as love offerings.
