Pysanka Postcards:
Map Card
This postcard doesn’t really fit any of the other categories. I have no idea where I got it–I somehow acquired a used (and slightly battered) copy. I think I may have found it in a used book I bought, but am not absolutely certain that this was the case. There is a hand-written message on the back, party missing and in Russian, and it is addressed to people I don’t know. There is also 12 cents worth of postage, meaning it was sent quite a while ago (between 1981 and early 1985).
It’s an interesting card, showing traditional regional pysanky from throughout Ukraine. Even though it is a larger format post card (5 by 7 inches) the writing in the legend is too small to read, and the details on the pysanky are a bit too small to be appreciated properly. The pysanky themselves are all taken from Binyashevsky’s plates, where the details can be properly appreciated.
As for the colors on the map: the pink areas represent ethnographically Ukrainian areas not within Ukraine proper. The green and yellow areas are a bit of a mystery; by comparing to topographic maps of the region, the yellow areas seem to be those that have an elevation of 200 meters above sea level or more.
The postcard was produced by the Ukrainian Bicentennial Committee in Philadelphia, and is dated 1976. The description on the back of the card reads
EASTER EGGS –– “PYSANKY”
FOR VARIOUS REGIONS OF UKRAINE
This map was exhibited at the University Museum, the Balch Institute, the Folk Life Pavilion, the Salute to the States Building and the Manor Junior College during 1976 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the occasion of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution and the Centennial of Ukrainian Settlement in the United States of America.
Compiled and drawn by D. Barabach and S. Bilynsky
This map was kept on display after the bicentennial celebrations had concluded at the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center (UHSC) at Manor College from 1977 until 2010. In March of 2010 it was placed on display at the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center (UECC) in Philadelphia during a pysanka exhibit sponsored by the UHSC and Branch 88 of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America. A new map was also created for that event, as the old one was very worn and the spellings of cities and regions needed to be corrected to those currently in use. The new map is based on Vira Manko's book.
The old map in the postcard above was donated to the Ukrainian Heritage School at the UECC. Copies of the postcard can still be obtained from the UHSC.
