4/6/12 – FROM THE DESK OF DR. HILDY: Celebrate Treasured Polish Custom of “Pisanki’ Coloring, Displaying of Easter Eggs

From the Desk of Dr. Hildy                       

© April 6, 2012                               Series 2: BioEthnic & Nanotechnology

Celebrate the Treasured Polish Custom of “Pisanki”  Coloring and Displaying of Easter Eggs

Pisanki

I want to wish all of my readers and viewers a blessed Easter, Passover and a Happy Spring Time.   Los Angeles, California is home to a variety of Ethnic communities, but due to the celebration of Easter and the coloring of the “Easter Egg.”  I feel it is important for my readers and viewers  to know the Polish tradition of “Pisanki” the coloring of eggs.

The pisanki traditions are derived from an ancient tradition when eggs, the symbol of life,

Pisanki

were endowed with magical properties and were thought to ensure both a plentiful harvest and good health.  The name Pisanki comes from the Polish word “pisac’”, which means to write. The practice of coloring Easter eggs is very much alive in Poland today, just as it is tradition in all households of the world who celebrate the arrival of Peter Cotton Tail and his fellow companions.   Polish people have enjoyed this tradition, which has spread throughout the world.  There are several techniques for making pisanki including the use of wax flowing from a pipe or funnel, producing richly ornamented designs or the etching of designs onto a previously colored egg.  The geometric

Polish Easter Eggs (Pisanki)

and floral patterns or the animal and human images produced reveal a high level of craftsmanship and artistry, which has been known throughout the Balkan lands.

These eggs are exchanged among friends and relatives with good wishes.  Many American Poles design eggs with the names of their friends written on them.  They exchange these decorated eggs with each other during their Easter visitations along with their good wishes and the enjoyment of some good Easter candies or foods, like moon cake.

References:

1)  News of Polonia.  Serving the Polish Community since 1995- Dedicated to printing the Truth!, Volume 17, No.10  March 2012, 2245 E. Colorado Blvd.  # 104/177 – Pasadena, CA 

2) Creations by Krys, Inc. Krystyna Witulski, Owner.  Los Angeles, CA.

Pisanki