[Sca-cooks] Pysanky Eggs
jehan.yves
jehan.yves at signofthetiger.com
Mon Jun 6 22:23:09 PDT 2005
Kiri-san,
Teofilia tried to send this to you directly, but we got a bounce message
back, so I decided to send it here:
>Date: Sun, 05 Jun 2005 22:17:09 -0400
>To: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler1 at comcast.net
>From: Nancy Karat-May <Nancy.May at signofthetiger.com>
>Subject: Pysanky eggs
>
>Heard you were looking for documentation for Pysanky eggs.
>"POLISH CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS, & FOLKLORE " BY Sophie Hodorowicz Knab ,
>Hippocrene Books, New York, revised edition , 1996
>page 100 "Pisanki were batik style eggs on which wax was carefully
>supplied in patterns with a stylus before they were placed in colored
>dyes. Other styles were known as Oklejane and Naleplanki, when the
>outside of the egg was decorated with a variety of materials such as
>colored paper or straw.
>Their origin can also be attributed to the early mystery plays, which
>began in Italy and spread slowly throughout Europe, and were especially
>popular in Poland during the time of Zygmunt III (1566-1632) "
>page 105 "As a symbol of fertility, the egg played a critical role in
>almost all customs and traditions throughout the year. Up until the
>middle 1800,s the elaborately decorated and ornamental eggs called Pisanki
>served as gifts in the Polish wooing and courtship process."
>Page 107"The oldest written knowledge of Pisanki at the grave side was
>documented in the life of St. Hedwig, which was penned after her
>canonization in 1267. The many miraculous healings attributed to this
>saint were documented by the wife of King Henryk Brodaty. who told the
>following story: When the son of a prominent judge was still unable to
>walk at eight years of age, his mother brought the boy to the grave of
>St. Hedwig in her arms and was praying to St. Hedwig to heal him when,
>lo!, a miracle happened. In the presence of the priest who baptized him
>and the abbess of the monastery, the boy suddenly; stood up, took an egg
>that lay before him and walked around the saint's grave. The abbess took
>other decorated eggs and threw them at the feet of the young boy,
>compelling him to walk further from the tomb. This miracle is said to
>have happened near Easter between 1274 and 1287."
>
>Author Rev. Czestaw Krysa, who is Associate Professor at the SS.Cyril and
>Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan, is an authority on Polish
>folklore and winner of the Oskar Kolberg award for 1991, Poland's most
>prized award in ethnography and folklore.
>Teofilia Karatkiewicz (Nancy Karat-May)
JehanYves
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