Ethnographic Map of Ukraine from Ukrainian Arts, (Edited by A. Mitz; published by the Ukrainian Youth

League (СУМ) of North America, Inc., New York, 1955; pg. 17).

Traditional Ethnic Regions of Ukraine

There are many different schemes of ethnic divisions of Ukraine, probably a many as there are ethnographers.  The system I have used on this website is based on that found in Vira Manko’s “Ukrainian Folk Pysanka,” but I have also divided Ukraine into three major areas, based on geographic and historical considerations:

I’ve written more about this scheme and these divisions here.

I’ve also posted a set of plates of traditional Ukrainian pysanky of Erast Binyashesky; you can find them here.

My Regional Pysanky

I’ve been working on my traditional regional pysanky, and have posted many from Volyn’/Волинь, Lemkivshchyna (Лемківшина) including Пряшів (Priashiv / Presov), and the Cherkasy region.

I have also begun posting other people’s pysanky in this section. While in Ukraine in 2009, I photographed a collection of traditional Bukovynian and Hutsul pysanky, along with some malyovanky and other eggs from the collection of Ivan Balan.  I have been editing and organizing the almost 2000 photos, and some of them are now on line in the Bukovyna and Hutsul sections.  More will follow, as most of the pysanky were from the village of Roztoky, and have to be sorted and organized for publication.  

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 and region of origin.  I have translated pysanka names, and regional names, but not 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.

Finally, I have uploaded pattern sheets for traditional pysanky.  These can be found on the Traditional Downloads page.  The patterns are all based on pysanky from Odarka Onyshchuk’s book.

Back to MAIN Traditional Pysanka home page.

Back to MAIN Pysanka home page.

Back to Pysanka Index.