Abstract
Traditionally, Ukrainians have found time in the week before Easter to create highly decorated eggs — pysanky — that celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Pysanky’s origins date back to a time before Christianity when the egg, a symbol of life, held great power. With its unending surface, the egg represented eternal life. Eastern Europeans believed that the eggs brought blessings of luck to the maker or receiver — the more eggs made, the less evil in the world. As Christianity spread, this symbolism became associated with religion and with the Easter season, a time of rebirth both on the calendar, with spring, and in religious practice, with the resurrection.
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