Easter pysanky workshop in Thunder Bay uses artform to show resilience as Ukraine, its culture under attack

Folks in Thunder Bay, Ont., gathered earlier this month for a particular workshop on pysanky — or Ukrainian Easter eggs — and this 12 months’s session took on new that means because the individuals turned to the artform to channel resilience.

As they huddled round tables, with candles burning within the centre, some chatted whereas others stayed centered on the duty at hand.

Espresso, freshly baked Ukrainian bread and the scent of blown-out candles stuffed the air as they labored away at their pysanky.

“You find yourself with a magical piece of artwork,” mentioned Cathy Paroschy-Harris, as she fastidiously melted away beeswax from everybody’s eggs in slightly toaster oven.

Cathy Paroschy-Harris, one of many workshop academics and organizers, shared that the custom every Easter has at all times been particular. However this 12 months’s occasion was significantly emotional for her, on many ranges.

“My mother not too long ago handed away, and her dying want when she handed away was — she was in a long-term care dwelling — and she or he requested that my sister and I make pysanky for all of the workers,” she defined whereas holding a pysanka she had made together with her mother over 20 years in the past.

“So it turned out that my sister ended up making two dozen … and we have been labelling them and packaging them up, and it wasn’t till we have been completed with the final bundle that she took her final breath. So the pysanky meant quite a bit, and nonetheless do,” she mentioned as her eyes welled with tears.

Ukrainian Canadians lean on custom for energy 

However the workshop additionally took on new that means this 12 months because the conflict in Ukraine continues — it has been two months since Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched troops over the border.

The annual workshop normally raises funds for the Chaban Ukrainian Dance Group in Thunder Bay, however proceeds this 12 months are going towards humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

These on the workshop additionally sported shirts that learn “Stand with Ukraine,” and a few wore blue-and-yellow ribbons over their hearts.

LISTEN | Pysanky workshop celebrates Ukrainian tradition in Thunder Bay:

“There’s nonetheless a number of worry and disbelief in some respects. However we try to have fun the non secular events like Easter, as we usually would,” mentioned Walter Warywoda, president of the Thunder Bay department of the Ukrainian League of Canadians.

Paroschy-Harris mentioned volunteers have been baking Paska bread, a conventional braided Ukrainian bread, till after midnight the day earlier than the workshop as a part of the fundraiser.

“To have the ability to share the richness of each the delicacies, the humanities, the heritage … so individuals have an understanding and an appreciation of it, as a result of I believe that is what helps us all respect one another extra,” she mentioned. “And pysanky is a really, crucial a part of Ukrainian tradition.”

The artwork of pysanky has been round for hundreds of years and makes use of a conventional technique of “writing” the eggs with melted beeswax by way of a stylus referred to as a kistka. The wax preserves the colors on the eggs as they sit in dye baths. Then, the method is repeated, making a layered impact.

There is a legend that claims so long as pysanky are being written that evil will steer clear of our lands.– Karling Draper

The creations are supposed to inform a narrative with symbols of life and nature, and conventional folks patterns.

The tactic is one thing Karling Draper has been working to grasp by way of the years. Now, she volunteers on the occasion to assist others with the method.

“It is one thing that individuals can have fun with us and it transcends cultures. It transcends nationalities. You do not have to be Ukrainian to make a pysanka,” Draper continued.

Each Draper and Paroschy-Harris mentioned they believed creating the eggs this 12 months was significantly necessary as Ukraine and its tradition are underneath assault.

They each mentioned making the pysanky would ship energy to the individuals of Ukraine and present pleasure within the tradition.

“They’ll final perpetually should you maintain them correctly and … I believe there is a legend that claims so long as pysanky are being written that evil will steer clear of our lands,” defined Draper.

“We will form of maintain that evil away from us right here. But additionally we will ship these ideas to Ukraine as nicely.”