Here is an egg I decorated for Easter this year! It is called a pysanky egg (plural pysanka), and I am really crazy about them. I made up some of the design in this one. They have a really neat history. You can learn the history along with how to decorate pysanka at www.ukrainiangiftshop.com

In pysanka, all of the colors and symbols mean something. Here are some of the symbols in this egg along with their meaning…

• Red symbolizes passion.
• Yellow is for fruitfulness. The striped diagonal yellow/orange part is a
• Orange can mean endurance.
• Black is for mourning/eternity.
• Green is for new life/hope.
• White is for innocence.

The small yellow waves represent water-without which we would have no life- They can also mean eternal life.

The ladder represents prayer/rising to heaven.

The fish netting around the crosses in the triangle represent Jesus’s fishing for men, or separation of good and evil.
The diamond shapes in the egg indicate knowledge. And of course the cross in the middle of the design is for Christ’s cross.