Event in Seattle will teach people to paint Ukrainian Easter eggs, raise funds for much-needed aid
Apr 13, 2022, 1:38 PM
Painted Ukrainian eggs. (Courtesy photo)
(Courtesy photo)
An event Thursday evening in Seattle will teach people how to make Ukrainian Easter eggs, as well as raise funds to help people suffering from the ongoing Russian invasion.
It’s an ancient form of egg dying that Andriy Kulinich says has brought communities together for centuries.
“It’s a really fun activity where you work together, you dye the eggs, it’s an amazing community thing,” he told KIRO Newsradio.
He thought it was the perfect opportunity to raise money for people in his native Ukraine, and quickly found those who agreed, finding that within minutes of announcing the event, people had already started to offer services as teachers as well as supplies.
One of the volunteers, Sylvia Castro learned the artform from her own Ukrainian mother, and says the eggs as call “pysanky,” which means “to write.”
“It’s a written egg,” she described.
You write on the egg in wax, then dye it a specific color, repeating the process to create elaborate patterns, which date back to 3,000 BCE.
For instance, triangles initially represented the sun, moon, and stars. When Christianity came along, the symbols began to represent the father, son, and holy ghost.
And though the eggs themselves were once though to hold power, Kulinich says “every symbol you write, every color you put on it has meaning.”
This time, the simple act of making the eggs means more humanitarian aid for a land and a people torn by war.
He explains that his sister’s family lives in Kyiv, but was forced to flee the city in the wake of heavy bombing by Russian forces. His brother-in law and nephew are still in Ukraine, while his sister and his niece escaped.
Castro says the tradition is for people to think positively as they decorate the eggs, as if to infuse them with that power, and certainly the people of Ukraine could use that.
Although the classes are full, organizers are encouraging people to donate to Save Life for paramedic trainings, drones, and armor, and Nova Ukraine for humanitarian efforts.
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