Pysanky Easter Eggs – a Timely Legend
During our symmetry math and art transdisciplinary unit, Year 3 students tackled the art of pysanky Easter eggs. Together we researched a bit of history about this type of Easter Egg decoration and read about the following legend from kidsquestmuseum.org:
“The Hutsuls – Ukranians who live in the Carpathian Mountains – believe that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka. As long as the egg decorating custom continues, the world will exist. If this custom is abandoned, evil – in the shape of a horrible serpent who is forever chained to a cliff – will overrun the world. Each year the serpent checks how many pysanky have been created. If the number of pysanky has increased, the chains are tightened and good triumps over evil for yet another year.”
After hearing the legend, students looked up the location of Carpathian mountains in Ukraine on a map, and shared their own previous knowledge about this region. They then decided to paint many pysanky eggs, in order to ensure that the serpent in the legend would remain chained to a cliff, and the existence of our world would continue.
We hope you enjoy the designs!
