When you visit friends and relatives in Ukraine – or if you’re there for vacation or a business trip even – don’t be surprised if you are given a pysanka egg to take home.  These are the beautiful hand colored eggs that are very popular and traditional in Ukraine and surrounding areas.  They are colored using a written-wax batik method and they are meant to be decorative and not to be eaten.  Many times the eggs have a small hole in the top and bottom where the egg white and yolk have been blown out.

The custom of decorating the eggs in this fashion date back to the earliest days of Ukraine and many of the patterns that are placed on the eggs date back to the time when the Ukrainian’s worshipped a sun god.  Throughout the centuries the eggs took on many symbolic meanings but rebirth was one of the themes that ran throughout the customs to today.  Christianity helped change the egg to symbolize not the rebirth of the earth, but the rebirth of man, which is why they are decorated at Easter time with many Christian symbols.

Pysanka eggs are bestowed upon members of the family and highly respected visitors.  It is a symbolic gift of life and the meanings on each egg mean something different.  They are usually indicative of the character of the person the egg is going to and they are so beautiful and have such a special meaning behind them that you will see pysanka eggs in bowls in just about every public room in a Ukrainian home.