Egg decorating in Slavic culture

The tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures originated in pagan times,^[1][2] and was transformed by the process of religious syncretism into the Christian Easter egg. Over time, many new techniques were added. Some versions of these decorated eggs have retained their pagan symbolism, while others have added Christian symbols and motifs.

While decorated eggs of various nations have much in common, national traditions, color preferences, motifs used and preferred techniques vary.

This is a Central and Eastern European, and not strictly Slavic, tradition since non-Slavic ethnic groups in the area (ex. Hungarians, Lithuanians, Romanians) also practice it.

As in many ancient cultures, many Slavs worshipped a sun god, Dazhboh. The sun was important — it warmed the earth and thus was a source of all life. Eggs decorated with nature symbols became an integral part of spring rituals, serving as benevolent talismans.

In pre-Christian times, Dazhboh was one of the major deities in the Slavic pantheon; birds were the sun god’s chosen creations, for they were the only ones who could get near him. Humans could not catch the birds, but they did manage to obtain the eggs the birds laid. Thus, the eggs were magical objects, a source of life. The egg was also honored during rite-of-Spring festivals—it represented the rebirth of the earth. The long, hard winter was over; the earth burst forth and was reborn just as the egg miraculously burst forth with life. The egg therefore, was believed to have special powers.^[8]

During Holy week, eggs are dyed in bright colors and decorated by various techniques. On Holy Saturday Slavic Christians, Catholic and Orthodox, go to a late night service carrying a basket with traditional foods, including Easter bread, cheese, butter, meats, and eggs (decorated or plain). During the service, priests bless the food, which will be eaten on Easter morning.

Some of the blessed eggs would be given as gifts to children, relatives, and romantic partners.^[12] Others would be set aside for ritual and protective uses. Easter eggs are now considered to both symbolize the revival of nature and the salvation that Christians obtain from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.^[9]

The Hutsuls—ethnic Ukrainians who live in the Carpathian Mountain highlands in western Ukraine—believe that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka. As long as the egg writing custom continues, the world will exist. If, for any reason, this custom is abandoned, evil—in the shape of a horrible serpent who is forever chained to a cliff—will overrun the world. Each year the serpent sends out his minions to see how many pysanky have been written. If the number is low the serpent’s chains are loosened and he is free to wander the earth causing havoc and destruction. If, on the other hand, the number of pysanky has increased, the chains are tightened and good triumphs over evil for yet another year.^[18]

Newer legends blended folklore and Christian beliefs and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration.One legend concerns the Virgin Mary.It tells of the time Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross. She entreated them to be less cruel to her son and wept. The tears of Mary fell upon the eggs, spotting them with dots of brilliant color.

Another legend tells of when Mary Magdalene went to the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus. She had with her a basket of eggs to serve as a repast. When she arrived at the sepulchre and uncovered the eggs, the pure white shells had miraculously taken on a rainbow of colors.

A common legend tells of Simon the peddler, who helped Jesus carry his cross on the way to Calvary. He had left his goods at the side of the road, and, when he returned, the eggs had all turned into intricately decorated pysanky.

Many superstitions were attached to Ukrainian pysanky. Pysanky were thought to protect households from evil spirits, catastrophe, lightning and fires. Pysanky with spiral motifs were the most powerful, as the demons and other unholy creatures would be trapped within the spirals forever. A blessed pysanka could be used to find demons hidden in the dark corners of your house.

Pysanky held powerful magic, and had to be disposed of properly, lest a witch get a hold of one.She could use the shell to gather dew, and use the gathered dew to dry up a cow’s milk. The witch could also use bits of the eggshell to poke people and sicken them. The eggshell had to be ground up very finely (and fed to chickens to make them good egg layers) or broken into pieces and tossed into a running stream.^[20]

The cloth used to dry pysanky was powerful, too, and could be used to cure skin diseases. It was considered very bad luck to trample on a pysanka—God would punish anyone who did with a variety of illnesses.^[21]

There were superstitions regarding the colors and designs on Ukrainian pysanky. One old Ukrainian myth centered on the wisdom of giving older people gifts of pysanky with darker colors and/or rich designs, for their life has already been filled. Similarly, it is appropriate to give young people pysanky with white as the predominant color because their life is still a blank page. Girls would often give pysanky to young men they fancied, that included heart motifs. It was said, though, that a girl should never give her boyfriend a pysanka that has no design on the top and bottom of the egg, as this might signify that the boyfriend would soon lose his hair.

The symbols which decorated Ukrainian pysanky underwent a process of adaptation over time. In pre-Christian times these symbols imbued an egg with magical powers to ward off evil spirits, banish winter, guarantee a good harvest and bring a person good luck. After 988AD, when Christianity became the state religion of Ukraine, the interpretation of many of the symbols began to change, and the pagan motifs were reinterpreted in a Christian light.

Since the mid-19th century, pysanky in Ukraine have been written more for decorative reasons than for the purposes of magic; especially among the Ukrainian diaspora, as belief in most such rituals and practices has dropped off in a more modern, scientific era. Additionally, the Ukrainian diaspora has reinterpreted meanings and created their own new symbols and interpretations of older ones.^[24]

The names and meaning of various symbols and design elements vary from region to region of Ukraine, and even from village to village. Similar symbols can have totally different interpretations in different places. There are several thousand different motifs in Ukrainian folk designs. They can be grouped into several families. Keep in mind that these talismanic meanings applied to traditional Ukrainian folk pysanky with traditional designs, not to modern original creations.

The most popular Ukrainian pysanka motifs are geometric figures. The egg is most often divided by straight lines into squares, triangles and other shapes. These shapes are then filled with other forms and designs. These are also among the most ancient symbols, with the решето (resheto; sieve) motif dating back to Paleolithic times. Other ancient geometric symbols are agricultural in nature: triangles, which symbolized clouds or rain; quadrilaterals, especially those with a resheto design in them, symbolized a ploughed field; dots stood for seeds.

Geometric symbols used quite commonly on Ukrainian pysanky today. The triangle is said to symbolize the Holy Trinity. In ancient times, it symbolized other trinities: the elements of air, fire and water, the family (man, woman and child), or the cycle of life (birth, life, and death). Diamonds, a type of quadrilateral, are sometimes said to symbolize knowledge.

Curls/spirals are symbols of the ancient water god Zmiya/Serpentand are said to have a meaning of defense or protection. The spiral is said to be protective against the нечиста сила, an evil spiritwhich, if they happen to enter such a protected home, will be drawn into the spiral and trapped there.

Dots, which can represent seeds, stars, or cuckoo birds‘ eggs (a symbol of spring), are popularly said to be the tears of the blessed Virgin. Hearts are also sometimes seen, and, as in other cultures, represent love.

An adaptation on geometric design is not a symbol per se. A division of the egg called “forty triangles” (actually 48) or “Sorokoklyn” (forty wedges)does not have any known ancient meaning. It is often said to represent the forty days of lent, the forty martyrs, the forty days that Christ spent in the desert, or the forty life tasks of married couples.

Eternity bands or meanders are composed of waves, lines, or ribbons; such a line is called in Ukrainian a “bezkonechnyk.”A line without end is said to represent immortality.Waves, however, are a water symbol, and thus a symbol of the Zmiya/Serpent—the ancient water god.Waves are therefore considered an agricultural symbol, because it is rain that ensures good crops.

The goddess motif is an ancient one, and most commonly found in Ukrainian pysanky from Bukovina, Polesia or Podillia. In Ukrainian tradition, the Berehynia was believed to be the source of life and death. On the one hand, she is a life giving mother, the creator of heaven and all living things, and the mistress of heavenly water (rain), upon which the world relies for fertility and fruitfulness. On the other hand, she was the merciless controller of destinies.

The goddess is sometimes depicted with arms upraised, and the arms vary in number but are always in pairs: 2, 4 or 6. This is similar to the appearance of the Christian Oranta. Pysanky with this motif were called “bohyn’ky” (богиньки, little goddesses) or “zhuchky” (жучки, beetles), the latter because they are similar in appearance to the Cyrillic letter Ж (zh). Sometimes the Berehynia has become abstracted, and is represented by a plant—vazon—the tree of life. Her arms become the branches and flowers, and she is firmly rooted in a flowerpot.

The most common depiction of the great goddess is a composition containing “kucheri” (curls).The Berehynia may be seen perched on a curl, or a curl may be given wings; the symbol may be doubled, end-to-end. There is usually a crown on the Berehynia’s head. These compositions are given the folk names of “queen,” “princess,” “rooster,” “scythe,” “drake,” or simply “wings.”

The only potential Christian symbol found on Ukrainian folk pysanky, and one probably not adapted from an earlier pagan^{[citation needed]} one, is the church. Stylized churches are often found on pysanky from Hutsul regions (including parts of Bukovina). Church parts are usually in threes: three stories/roofs, three towers, three openings (windows, doors). Sometimes only the bell tower (dzvinytsia) is depicted.

Crosses are a common Ukrainian motif, although most of those found on folk pysanky are not Ukrainian (Byzantine) crosses. The crosses most commonly depicted are of the simple “Greek” cross type, with arms of equal lengths. This type of cross predates Christianity, and is a sun symbol (an abstracted representation of the solar bird); it is sometimes combined with the star (ruzha) motif. The “cross crosslet” type of cross, one in which the ends of each arm are crossed, is frequently seen, particularly on Hutsul and Bukovinian pysanky.

Other adapted religious symbols include a triangle with a circle in the center, denoting the eye of God, and one known as the “hand of god.”

The most common motifs found on Ukrainian pysanky are those associated with plants and their parts (flowers and fruit). Ukrainian women who wrote pysanky drew their inspiration from the world of nature, depicting flowers, trees, fruits, leaves and whole plants in a highly stylized (not realistic) fashion. Such ornaments symbolized the rebirth of nature after winter, and pysanky were written with plant motifs to guarantee a good harvest. A most popular floral design is a plant in a vase of standing on its own, which symbolized the tree of life and was a highly abstracted version of the berehynia (great goddess).

Pysanky created by the highland mountain peopleof the Hutsul region of Ukraine often showed a stylized fir tree branch, a symbol of youth and eternal life. Trees, in general, symbolized strength, renewal, creation, growth; as with animal motifs, the parts (leaves, branches) had the same symbolic meaning as the whole. The oak tree was a sacred to the ancient god Perun, the most powerful of the pagan Slavic pantheon, and thus oak leaves symbolized strength.

Flowers are a common Ukrainian pysanka motif. They can be divided into two types: specific botanical types, and non-specific.

Specific botanical types include sunflowers, daisies, violets, carnations, periwinkle and lily-of the-valley. These flowers are represented with identifying features that make them recognizable. Carnations will have a serrated edge to the petals, the flowers of the lily of the valley will be arrayed along a stem, periwinkle will have three or four leaves (periwinkle is represented by its leaves, not its flowers, on pysanky).

There are also flower motifs called orchids and tulips, but these are not botanical names. They are actually the names given to fantastical flowers, as neither of these flowers was commonly found in Ukraine until modern times. The names reflected the exoticism of the designs.

Non-specific flowers are much more common, and consist of the ruzha and others. The ruzha (or rozha) is named after the mallow flower, although it does not resemble one, and is another name given to the eight-pointed star motif. A ruzha can be full, empty, compound, divided or even crooked. It is a sun sign.

The “tree of life” motif is widely used in Ukrainian folk pysanky designs. It can be represented in many ways. Sometimes it appears as two deer on either side of a pine tree.More often it manifests as a flower pot (“vazon”), filled with leaves and flowers. The pot itself is usually a rectangle, triangle or a rhomboid (symbolic of the earth), and is covered with dots (seeds) and dashes (water). Many branches grow out of it, in a symmetric fashion, with leaves and flowers. This plant is a berehynia (goddess) symbol, with the branches representing the many arms of the mother goddess.

Fruit is not a common motif on Ukrainian pysanky.. Apples, plums and cherries are depicted on traditional folk pysanky, although without much botanical detail. Currants and viburnum (kalyna) berries are sometimes seen, too. These motifs are probably related to fecundity.

Skevomorphic designs are the second-largest group of Ukrainian folk motifs, and are representations of man-made agricultural objects.^[23] These symbols are very common, as Ukraine was a highly agricultural society, and drew many of its positive images from field and farm. Some of these symbols are related to agriculture; others have older meanings, but were renamed in more recent times based on their appearance.

Common symbols include the ladder, symbolizing prayers going up to heaven, and the sieve (resheto), standing for a plowed field,or perhaps the separation of good and evil. Rakes and combs are often depicted; both are meant to invoke a good harvest, as both are rain symbols.The body of the rake (sometimes depicted as a triangle) is the cloud, and the teeth symbolize rain drops. (Note: these combs are not hair combs, but agricultural implements, see Harrow (tool).)

Windmills, a variation on the broken cross (swastika) motif,are sun symbols. The movement of the cross echoes the movement of the sun across the sky.

Although animal motifs are not as popular as plant motifs on Ukrainian pysanky, they are nevertheless encountered, especially those of the Ukrainians of the Carpathian Mountains. Animals depicted on pysanky include both wild animals (deer, birds, fish) and domesticated ones (rams, horses, poultry).As with plants, animals were depicted in the abstract, highly stylized, and not with realistic details.

Horses were popular motifs because they symbolized strength and endurance, as well as wealth and prosperity. They also had a second meaning as a sun symbol: in some versions of Ukrainian pagan mythology, the sun was drawn across the sky by the steeds of Dazhboh, the sun god. Similarly, deer motifs were fairly common as they were intended to bring prosperity and long life;in other versions of the myth, it was the stag who carried the sun across the sky on his antlers. Rams are symbols of leadership, strength, dignity, and perseverance.

Sometimes Ukrainian women simply drew parts of animals; these symbols were a sort of shorthand, endowed with all the attributes of the animal represented. Ducks’ necks, goose feet, rabbits’ ears, rams’ horns, wolves’ teeth, bear claws, and bulls’ eyes can all be found on Ukrainian pysanky. One cannot be sure, however, if these symbols were actually meant to represent animals, or were renamed centuries later because of their appearance.

Birds were considered the harbingers of spring, thus they were a commonplace Ukrainian pysanka motif. Birds of all kinds are the messengers of the sun and heaven. They are always shown perched, at rest, never flying (except for swallows and, in more recent times, white doves carrying letters). Roosters are symbols of masculinity, or the coming of dawn, and hens represent fertility.

Birds were almost always shown in full profile, stylized, but with characteristic features of the species. Partial representations of some birds––mostly domestic fowl––are often seen on pysanky. Bird parts (eyes, feet, beaks, combs, feathers) are said carry the same meaning as the entire bird. Thus hen’s feet represent fertility and the rooster’s comb signifies masculinity.

Insects are only rarely depicted on Ukrainian pysanky. Highly stylized spiders (and occasionally their webs) are the most common on folk pysanky, and symbolize perseverance. Beetles are sometimes seen, but rarely look anything like a beetle. What they do resemble, somewhat, is the letter Ж, as in their Ukrainian name “жучок.” Other insects are sometimes seen on modern, diasporan Ukrainian pysanky, most commonly butterflies and bees, but appear to be a modern innovation. In Onyshchuk’s “Symbolism of the Ukrainian Pysanka” she depicts pysanky with a butterfly motif, but the original design, recorded by Kulzhynsky in 1899, was labeled as being swallows’ tails.

The fish, originally a Ukrainian symbol of health, eventually came to symbolize Jesus Christ, the “fisher of men.” In old Ukrainian fairy tales, the fish often helped the hero to win his fight with evil. In the Greek alphabet “fish” (ichthys) is an acrostic of “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,” and it became a secret symbol used by the early Christians. The fish represents abundance, as well as Christian interpretations of baptism, sacrifice, the powers of regeneration, and Christ himself.

Another Ukrainian symbol is that of the змія or serpent, the ancient god of water and earth. The serpent could be depicted in several ways: as an “S” or sigma, as a curl or spiral, or as a wave.When depicted as a sigma, the zmiya often wears a crown. Depictions of the serpent can be found on Neolithic Trypillian pottery. The serpent symbol on a Ukrainian pysanka is said to bring protection from catastrophe.Spirals were particularly strong talismans, as an evil spirit, upon entering the house, would be drawn into the spiral and trapped there.

Among the oldest and most important symbols of Ukrainian pysanky is the sun, and the simplest rendering of the sun is a closed circle with or without rays. Pysanky from all regions of Ukraine depict an eight-sided star, the most common depiction of the sun;this symbol is also called a “ruzha.” Six- or seven-sided stars can also be seen, but much less commonly.

The sun can also appear as a flower or a трилист (three leaf). The swastika, called in Ukrainian a “svarha,” is sometimes referred to as a “broken cross” or “ducks’ necks.”It represented the sun in pagan times:the movement of the arms around the cross represented the movement of the sun across the sky. The Slavic pagans also believed that the sun did not rise on its own, but was carried across the sky by a stag (or, in some versions, a horse).The deer and horses often found on Hutsul pysanky are solar symbols.

Pysanky with sun motifs were said to have been especially powerful, because they could protect their owner from sickness, bad luck and the evil eye. In Christian times the sun symbol is said to represent life, warmth, and the love and the Christian God.

Other cosmomorphic symbols are less commonly seen. The moon is sometimes depicted as a circle with a cross inside it;it is begged to shed its light at night to help the traveller, and to chase away evil powers from the household. Stars are sometimes represented as dots.

In times of political upset, Ukrainian pysanky have reflected such changes through the motifs depicted. During periods of national independence movements in the early 20th century, tridents were frequently depicted on pysanky; this can be seen in the work of Iryna Bilianska, whose pysanky are housed in the Ukrainian Museum of New York. The same happened after Ukrainian independence in 1991; tridents and Ukrainian flags were depicted on pysanky, particularly those sold at Ukrainian Hutsul Easter markets.

With the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, patriotic motifs are once again being written on pysanky. These include tridents, the a rooster of Vasylkiv majolica, tractors (pulling armored vehicles), and patriotic inscriptions like “Oh in the meadow“, “For the freedom of Ukraine”, “I believe in Ukrainian Armed Forces“, etc.^[25][26][27]

It is not only motifs on Ukrainian pysanky which carried symbolic weight:, colors also had significance. Although the earliest Ukrainian pysanky were often simply two-toned, and many folk designs still are, some believed that the more colors there were on a decorated egg, the more magical power it held. A multi-colored egg could thus bring its owner better luck and a better fate.

The color palette of traditional Ukrainian folk pysanky was fairly limited, as it was based on natural dyes. Yellow, red/orange, green, brown and black were the predominant colors. With the advent of aniline dyes in the 1800s, small amounts of blue and purple were sometimes added. The meanings below are generalizations; different regions of Ukraine interpreted colors differently.^[17]

Some color combinations had specific meanings, too:

• Black and white – mourning, respect for the souls of the dead.
• Black and red – this combination was perceived as “harsh and frightful,” and very disturbing. It is common in Podillya, where both serpent motifs and goddess motifs were written with this combination.
• Four or more colors – the family’s happiness, prosperity, love, health and achievements.

As with symbols, these talismanic meanings of colors applied to traditional Ukrainian folk pysanky with traditional designs, and not to modern decorative pysanky.

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The Easter bunny is a much-celebrated character in American Easter celebrations. On Easter Sunday, children look for hidden special treats, often chocolate Easter eggs, that the Easter bunny might have left behind.

As a folklorist, I’m aware of the origins of the long and interesting journey this mythical figure has taken from European prehistory to today.

Religious role of the hare

Easter is a celebration of spring and new life. Eggs and flowers are rather obvious symbols of female fertility, but in European traditions, the bunny, with its amazing reproductive potential, is not far behind.

In European traditions, the Easter bunny is known as the Easter hare. The symbolism of the hare has had many tantalizing ritual and religious roles down through the years.

Hares were given ritual burials alongside humans during the Neolithic age in Europe. Archaeologists have interpreted this as a religious ritual, with hares representing rebirth.

Over a thousand years later, during the Iron Age, ritual burials for hares were common, and in 51 B.C.E., Julius Caesar mentioned that in Britain, hares were not eaten due to their religious significance.

Caesar would likely have known that in the classical Greek tradition, hares were sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Meanwhile, Aphrodite’s son Eros was often depicted carrying a hare as a symbol of unquenchable desire.

From the Greek world through the Renaissance, hares often appear as symbols of sexuality in literature and art. For example, the Virgin Mary is often shown with a white hare or rabbit, symbolizing that she overcame sexual temptation.

Hare meat and witches’ mischief

But it is in the folk traditions of England and Germany that the figure of the hare is specifically connected to Easter. Accounts from the 1600s in Germany describe children hunting for Easter eggs hidden by the Easter hare, much as in the United States today.

One tradition, known as the “Hare Pie Scramble,” was held at Hallaton, a village in Leicestershire, England. It involved eating a pie made with hare meat and people “scrambling” for a slice. In 1790, the local parson tried to stop the custom due to its pagan associations, but he was unsuccessful, and the custom continues in that village until this day.

The eating of the hare may have been associated with various longstanding folk traditions of scaring away witches at Easter. Throughout northern Europe, folk traditions record a strong belief that witches would often take the form of a hare, usually for causing mischief such as stealing milk from neighbors’ cows. Witches in medieval Europe were said to be able to suck out the life energy of others, making them ill.

The idea that the witches of winter should be banished at Easter is a common European folk motif appearing in several festivities and rituals. The spring equinox, with its promise of new life, was held symbolically in opposition to the life-draining activities of witches and winter.

This idea provides the underlying rationale behind various festivities and rituals, such as the Osterfeuer, or Easter Fire, a celebration in Germany involving large outdoor bonfires meant to scare away witches. In Sweden, popular folklore states that at Easter, the witches all fly away on their broomsticks to feast and dance with the devil on the legendary island of Blåkulla, in the Baltic Sea.

Pagan origins

In 1835, the folklorist Jacob Grimm, one of the famous team of the fairy tale Brothers Grimm, argued that the Easter hare was connected to a goddess he imagined would have been called “Ostara” in ancient German. He derived this name from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, who Bede, an early medieval monk considered to be the father of English history, mentioned in 731 C.E.   Of course we know that the Grimm tales were taken directly from the legends they were told by the folk in the places they traveled.

Bede noted that in eighth-century England, the month of April was called Eosturmonath, or Eostre Month, after the goddess Eostre. He wrote that a pagan festival of spring in the name of the goddess had become assimilated into the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

While most European languages refer to the Christian holiday with names that come from the Jewish holiday of Passover, such as Pâques in French or Påsk in Swedish, German and English languages retain this older, non-biblical word: Easter.

Recent archaeological research appears to confirm the worship of Eostre in parts of England and Germany, with the hare as her main symbol. The Easter bunny therefore seems to recall these pre-Christian celebrations of spring, heralded by the vernal equinox and personified by the goddess Eostre.

After a long, cold, northern winter, it seems natural enough for people to celebrate themes of resurrection and rebirth. The flowers are blooming, birds are laying eggs and baby bunnies are hopping about.

As new life emerges in spring, the Easter bunny hops back once again, providing a longstanding cultural symbol to remind us of the cycles and stages of our own lives.

Tok Thompson is an anthropologist at the University of Southern California. From 2013 to 2017, he was the editor for Western Folklore. Recent books include The Truth of Myth, a textbook for World Mythology (with Gregory Schrempp) and a casebook entitled Posthuman Folklore.