People from around the area had a chance to learn the ancient art of pysanky at a recent workshop at the Ukrainian Homestead, Lehighton.

Pysanky is an art form that has been around for thousands of years, originating in Ukraine.

It got its start in early pagan celebrations. It was originally made to welcome the sun back after winter; to come and heat the earth so the people could grow their crops.

One of the traditional symbols on the eggs is an eight-pointed star that symbolizes the sun. After Christianity became the official religion in A.D. 988, it became a part of the Easter celebration.

It was also considered a good-luck charm.

Every symbol meant something; it was like writing a greeting card. You wrote your good wishes to the recipient in symbols, like wealth, a good harvest and good health. The darker eggs were usually for the older people; the lighter for the younger.

Pysanky was almost like a ritual. People would say prayers while writing the pysanky. The word “pysanky” is from the Ukrainian word that means “to write.” One uses a stylus to create or write the pysanky.

Chrystyna Prokopovych, curator of The Ukrainian Heritage Museum at Manor College, Jenkintown, led the workshop. She also has a home on Beaver Run Road near the Ukrainian Homestead. She has been doing pysanky since high school.

“We had a Ukrainian club in high school,” Prokopovych explained. “We had a guest who came in, taught us how to make Pysanky and that’s when I really got started.”

Prokopovych has worked for Manor College for 28 years, going on the road to schools or community groups, doing programs about Ukrainian culture or history. Pysanky is the most popular workshop.

“Ukrainian arts and crafts were a part of our life,” Prokopovych shared. “My parents came to the United States right after World War II. Their feeling was that the Soviet government would be destroying the culture in Ukraine; so, their goal was to keep the culture and the language going here in America.”

Regretfully, it appears that history is repeating itself. Prokopovych shared a story.

“Two of our students from Manor College, they are sisters. Both of them work with me in the museum. The younger one went to study in Ukraine, and she only came back to the United States about a week before the war broke out. She wanted to stay; but, according to her father, he told her, ‘Things are not just bad, they are terrible and you need to get out now.’”

Manor College has been prominent in celebrating and helping the people of Ukraine, raising money and collecting supplies for the people of Ukraine. They declared April 1 “Make a Pysanky for Ukraine Day.”

The college’s website is www.manor.edu.

For information about the Ukrainian Homestead, call 610-377-4621.