HAPPY EASTER! Making Ukrainian Easter Eggs

Eggs have long been associated with Easter is a symbol of renewed life. I became fascinated with the beautiful designs on Ukrainian Easter eggs (called psanky) when I was growing up in Northeast Minneapolis. I started to make them myself when I was a teenager. I took a bus from our home in South Minneapolis to the Ukrainian Gift Shop on East Hennepin Avenue to buy the tools and special dyes needed to make the designs. Behind the counter a woman dressed in a traditional Ukrainian costume demonstrated the technique, making beautiful intricate designs and using many colors of dyes. To make the eggs the designs are drawn in wax with a stylus (kistka) and the colors are added successively. In the end the wax is removed, revealing the richness of the colors.  The eggs can be kept year after year because the inside moisture simply evaporates over time.  (The designs are made on raw eggs.  The eggs are not meant to be eaten but used for decoration.) Some of the eggs in the bowl above were made by my children when they were much younger, others by me. Getting them out at Eastertime is a well-loved family tradition.

HAPPY EASTER! 

(Note: In 2026, Easter falls on Sunday, April 5th. But in the Orthodox Church, Easter is a week later, on April 12th, because of a different way of calculating the date on the Orthodox calendar. Whichever you celebrate, best wishes for a happy holiday!)