Putting the east in Easter: Ukrainian decorated eggs – in pictures
Pysanka is the Ukrainian tradition of egg decoration at Easter. Pysanky are created using a batik method: the eggs are covered in wax and then dyed. In 1968, Erast Binyashevsky published The Ukrainian Pysanka, the first book to detail the practice, documenting regional styles in watercolour illustrations. “Binyashevsky was important because his was the first book published about pysanky in the USSR,” explains Luba Petrusha, an obstetrician whose family emigrated to the US from Ukraine. Petrusha runs a website celebrating pysanky, and believes they are an integral part of traditional Ukrainian identity: “Every Ukrainian tries to have at least one pysanka in their Easter basket.”