Happy Easter, Old Skool

For several (...okay, many, many) years, I've wanted to do psankye on Easter. I'm 1/4 Ukrainian, but my grandfather being... male, "my heritage" mainly manifested in periodic anecdotes about language loss and Ukrainian flags dangling from the rearview mirror. Mostly not so much with the arts and crafts. Especially when I was growing up in Winnipeg, I'd watch the neighbour kids head off to dance lessons once a week with flowers in their hair and be jealous.

So, yeah, it only took me six years since I moved back to Calgary, but I finally finagled my way into being invited to do psankye at Alexis' parents' house. All under the guise of teaching Sloane about her heritage, of course.


Our fabulous host, Christina Bahry, shows off the various (indelible! and inedible!) special Ukrainian easter egg dyes.

This was the post-holiday email I sent to Alexis about the event:

"Your parents were total saints about the fact that we brought a toddler into their house, and proceeded to engross ourselves in an activity involving concentration and indelible dye for several hours, obliviously leaving them to tag-team babysit Sloane. Meanwhile we drank up three pots of their coffee, smashed eggs on the floor, and yammered on about our own blathering ideas... after which they basically had no choice but to feed us lunch. Not only did your mom pull a huge crayon-marker set from out of nowhere in a very timely fashion, but she also spirited up a surprise: one fully remembered-and-wrapped-plus-card birthday present for the wee girl. ...In what I can only assume was Easter-inspired delirium, your parents suggested we make it an annual thing and I readily agreed before they could change their minds."

We made three eggs between us adults and carted them around all weekend, to the various Easter stuff we did, to show them off and brag about how authentic our Easter experience had been this year. Ya, late-bloom Ukrainian crafthood in my mid-30s: that's my story.



The red one is Margo's - widely regarded as the best effort this year - simple, beautiful. Mine's the way-too-complex one in front (I think that black-and-yellow crisscross circle bit at the front there is supposed to be the traditional 'sunflower' pattern... yeesh), and Turner's is that one in back, showing off the traditional repeating patterns to best effect.

I really enjoyed the whole artistic element of the psankye stuff and was only half-joking when, after Christina presented me with a bunch of supplies to take home, that we'd have the 2009 event at our house. Of course, whereupon I'd show off the 7000+ practice eggs I'd done in the meantime... In my vision, I've put up high-near-the-ceiling shelves along every wall to display my many many creations, and the house has a not unpleasantly pervasive eggy smell. Also, my hair is in wrapped braids & I'm pulling a tractor through the kitchen, but nevermind...



After approximately 8.5 minutes of her "heritage", Sloane wandered around the house touching stuff and generally proving that a chinese checkers game and an ornamental wood tea set are waaaaay better real toys for kids than all the Barbies & bits of plastic "toy" junk out there all put together. Also, we showed her the very adorable communion photo of Auntie Alexis on the wall, which everyone enjoyed.


* Please note, some egg-zageration (har!) has been employed in this post for comedic effect.

Categories: Friends | Sloane | Ukrainian

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