TRADITIONAL PYSANKY

My Regional Pysanky

In the section on regional pysanky, I have included examples of my work (copied meticulously from many sources) as well as photographs of traditional pysanky that I have taken.  They are divided into albums by region and by source.

While I’ve been busy writing traditional regional pysanky, I’ve been slower to photograph and post them to this site.  I have been catching up a bit, and there are many to view from various parts of western Ukraine and the Cherkasy region.

I also photographed, in the summer of 2009, 450+ traditional pysanky and maliovanky from the collection of Ivan Balan.  Most are from Bukovyna, both Hutsul and lowland.  Those photos have been edited and sorted, and I have upload them here. 

I have been photographing pysanky in museum collections and , when allowed, have been posting them to this site.

I have created an introduction to Ukrainian ethnographic regions, with maps and descriptions.  It includes links to information about and pysanky of those regions here on my web site. In each section, I have tried to include some ethnographic and historical information about the region, especially those that are located beyond Ukraine’s modern borders.

Under the photos of the traditional regional pysanky I have included, when known, the name of the pysanka, and its village, raion and region of origin.  I have translated pysanka names, and regional names, but not all of the the village/town names.  If you wish to transliterate them yourself, a handy pronunciation guide can be found here.

I have added a list of the sources for my patterns here (in progress); I will try to put the abbreviation for the source in the comments for each of the pysanky pictured.  Note that I said that I will try.

Useful Materials

I have uploaded a set of pattern sheets for traditional pysanky.  These can be found on the Traditional Downloads page and in the Traditional Patterns section.  The patterns are based on pysanky from Elyjiw’s stamps and Odarka Onyshchuk’s book, and I created them many years ago for a summer camp in Ukraine.  The designs are, for the most part, simpler ones, and are good for beginners as well as more advanced pysankary.

I’ve also posted several sets of plates of traditional Ukrainian pysanky of Erast Binyashesky; you can find them here.  These are scans of a set of design sheets that I purchased in Kyiv many years ago, his rare and long out of print book, and photos taken of unpublished material.

Lastly, I’ve included a section on the Ukrainian language, for those who might be interested.  It is an informal layman’s discussion of pronunciation and transliteration.