The ancient Ukrainian tradition of the eggs painting originates in sun worship that goes back in time for more than two thousand years, and always has been considered a way to protect against evil. It sparks creativity and imagination every spring before Easter. People also enjoy to put together Pysanka puzzles; famous designers incorporate Pysanka’ s symbols and patterns in their fashion creations. Long before Christianity it was believed that the universe and life originated from an egg (Iaitse-Raitse, as Ukrainians call it): iaitse - an egg, the root word rai means Eden.
Every year before Easter students at St. Josaphat Catholic school (principal - Leda Ostafichuk) have a chance to paint their own pysanky. We gave them the examples of traditional symbols and ornaments that reflect different styles from all Ukrainian regions kids were able to use in eggs’ decorating. Everyone has enjoyed this all inclusive activity, even those who did it for the first time and not only students with Ukrainian roots. Like in curriculum expectation Reading for meaning I’ve used elements of style (traditional and modern) to prompt children create the designs of their own. They also used knowledge of form and style in drawings and paintings. During this activity everyone has developed interconnected skills; like in writing expectations students did previous research prior to eggs painting and then worked together organizing, classifying, and developing ideas. I’ve used interactive strategies in different situations, like paired sharing and group communication. Pysanky’s painting is a great opportunity for learning new words by predicting the meaning and solving the unfamiliar words, for example, by using semantic cues (familiar words, phrases, and visual aids I’ve provided), syntactic cues (words order - in oral presentation of the finished Pysanka) and other useful strategies from the Ontario curriculum. Students had a chance to learn numerous Ukrainian legends and fairy tales explaining Easter traditions and customs.
Pysanky’s painting brings people together in many ways: through Ukrainian culture they learn to work together as a team, to help each other, to include everyone, and share knowledge about Ukrainian traditions. Mr. Michael Perzia - seven grade’s teacher - has painted Pysanka alongside his students who for the couple of hours became his teacher, sharing all their knowledge and experience in creating a beautiful design. To everyone’s surprise, Mr. Perzia, who has never painted an egg before, ended up with gorgeous Pysanka. His students were proud of him.
Grades 1-8 had a great time painting pysanky and interacting in the informal setting. We’ve created all inclusive, safe, comfortable environment for everyone to be able to do their best. The experienced students as well as the beginners had fun and created great memories. After a week of earnest and collaborative painting we had an art show with all the masterpieces to admire and then to take home for the parents. Kids had something special to put in their Easter baskets.
