Odesa is located in the Ukrainian south; it is a port on the Black Sea. The region around it is part of  Prymoria (Prychornomoria and Pryazovia, the parts of Ukraine “near the sea”).  Southern Ukraine was settled fairly late in the course of Ukrainian history; it was a battleground for much of Ukraine’s history, as wave after wave of invaders passed through here.

Wave motifs are common in Ukrainian pysanky, and designs similar to this can be found in many regions of Ukraine.  The wave is a symbol of the serpent, the god of waters.

Onyshchuk attributes this pysanka to Odesa; Manko notes that it is from the Kherson region in Ukraine’s south.  Other pysanky from this general area:

Numbers 30 and 31 above are from the Odesa region, and also contain waveforms.  The pysanky form this region are generally of moderate complexity; stripes, but not hatching, are used for infilling

Technical details: This pattern is of moderate difficulty, due to the large number of stripes, and utilizes a Meridian (Longitudinal) division.

The example above was written with a fine pysachok; that is the wrong choice for this design.  It needs, minimally, a medium pysachok, and a heavy one would give a better result.

This pattern utilizes gold, red and black dyes; yellow may be substituted for gold.

This pattern, although it looks simple, takes a bit of technical accomplishment to do.  Waveforms are easy for experienced pysankarky, but can be quite difficult for beginners; I usually help my students by sketching out the waves in pencil for them.  Another common error for beginners is losing track of which section needs to be filled in (with stripes).

Download this pattern sheet:

English

Ukrainian

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