The pysanky on these pages are traditional designs from Volyn, copied from the pages of Odarka Onyshchuk’s out-of-print book, “Symbolism of the Ukrainian Pysanka” (Одарка Онищук, «Символіка Української Писанки»). I have included scans of the individual pysanky from the book for comparison to my re-creations.
Names of the pysanky have been included, as well as page citations. (All of the Volynian pysanky in this book are found on one page, and I have numbered them.) The names are the ones Onyshchuk has provided; some may be traditional ones, others may simply be her descriptions. Several of the designs here were taken from Binyashevsky’s book or common earlier sources.
This book was published in 1984, and the color reproduction was not very good. Many of the photographed pysanky have a pink cast, and it is often difficult to figure out what the correct colors should be. The scans on this page have corrected the color a bit. Also, colors in the reproduced pysanky may differ slightly from the originals, as modern aniline dyes often present a different color palette from the old botanical preparations.
I’ve included multiple views to present the pysanky in their entirety.
For more information about the book, see here. To read my translation of the text from the section on Volyn, go here.
