Pysanky with an equatorial division have the design elements are centered around the top and bottom poles of the egg.

They also usually, but not always, have a small dividing band around the “equator” of the egg.

This is an uncommon division, and there are only five such pysanky shown here. The most common form of the equatorial division is the storchova ruzha (сторчова ружа), which has a large eight-pointed star written at each end of the pysanka.  The egg in the photo above has a variant of this which utilizes a four-pointed star.

The first pysanka below is particularly interesting, as it includes drop-pull half-suns in its design.  Not only is it almost unheard of, in traditional pysankarstvo, to mix the two techniques (drop-pull and linear batik) on a single pysanka, but drop-pull is not normally seen outside of the Lemko and Boyko regions. 

After WWII, when western Ukraine was incorporated into the USSR, ethnic Ukrainians, including many Lemky, were resettled from Poland into various regions of Ukraine.  A significant number were resettled into Bukovyna, and may have continued their traditional folk art practices in their new homeland. 

(Note: the numeration of these eggs, i.e. the  “Балан - №,” simply reflects the order in which they were photographed and their data recorded.  It is just my bookkeeping system.)

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