In the area of Southern Ontario where I grew up, many families were of Ukrainian ancestry. They attended the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church and got to celebrate Christmas and Easter twice. ;o)We had neighbours down the road, I don't remember their names, who made the most beautiful Easter eggs called pysanky and had them all over their home, year round. I watched them sometimes, fascinated with the wax drawing and the many, many dips in intense coloured dye. I wonder if there are still people who make these by hand.
Every year, the old woman, the matriarch of this extended family would bring us a beautifully braided, rich shiny Easter Bread. I had completely forgotten about this kindness until I started seeing pictures of Easter breads on Tastespotting over the past few weeks. I haven't seen a paska, but have become a little um, obsessed with finding a recipe and recreating this bit of Easter tradition that for a while became mine not by accident of birth but by fortune of good neighbours. Today's the day.
7 comments:
My late MIL Dot had 2 eggs that were given to her by a friend who made them. They are so beautiful. My friend Sandra's Mom let me watch while she worked on one. What a lot of work they are but so worth it. Some are hollow blown eggs and some really old ones have the hard pellet of the dried yolk that makes noise when you handle them. Good luck with the recipes and Happy Easter Dorothy.
How gorgeous those are and the breads..we always had Babka with an egg in the center.I always loved the braided one too.
For a wedding present I received an egg decorated in this style - one of my college professors was learning to do these kinds of eggs and she made one specially for us. Wish I had a photo (the egg is packed away in a box in the loft at the moment). They are really cool, aren't they...
Beautiful, and so much nicer than my family's tradition: boiled eggs colored on with crayons, broken by accident, then dipped into a vinegar/food coloring solution so that the egg white would be a disgusting color.
Egg salad, anyone?
Such beautiful eggs! I have never seen anything like them before.
Too late for this year, but here's a website for all things Ukrainian: www.yevshan.com
My husband's parents are from the Ukraine and have a beautiful collection of pysanky. Maybe we'll inherit it one day! My own efforts, years ago, were pretty pathetic.....
Husband loves to do those pysanky eggs! It takes a lot of time and patience, but his always look beautiful, and mine still all look like he handed a 5yo a crayon. *sigh* We all know who got the artistic talent in this house.
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