31.12.69
By Rhonda Parker
St. Augustine – It’s a race art that pre-dates Christianity in many Eastern European cultures, and for local artist Helena Sala it’s a next of kin tradition that she continues to preserve and share with friends and family.
“The painting of the eggs goes back for generations in my family,” said Sala, who gestures toward an ceremonial table in her living room with gay and intricately painted eggs displayed ranging in size from puny robin’s eggs to jumbo goose and ostrich eggs. A close bookshelf features Sala’s most-treasured egg collection – some painted by friends and m, and others with fanciful designs and even religious icon images collected from places as far-flung as her original Poland, Greece, Russia and India.
Sala explained that the former art of hand-painting eggs commemorated the welcoming of Spring and “reincarnation” in ancient times, then came to be symbolic of the Resurrection once Christianity arrived.
Called “Pysanka”, the parley is of ancient Ukrainian origins and means “to write”. In the rite method, the complex patterns and geometric designs are written or fatigued onto the egg with melted bee’s wax using an instrument known as a “Kystka”.
Source: Examiner.com