A Saskatoon woman is sharing her Ukrainian culture with thousands in the community through the art of making a pysanka, or Easter egg.
Karen Pidskalny has been decorating the elaborate eggs for decades.
“My grandfather was the one who brought the art from Ukraine and taught his daughters, and some of the older cousins, so to me it’s that connection to my family,” Pidskalny said.
One day she offered to teach the tradition to students in her children’s class.
“’Hey, I can come in and teach this,’ and before you knew it, I became known as the pysanka lady,” she said.
Pysanka — the elaborately-designed Ukrainian Easter eggs. (Dale Cooper/CTV News)
Since then she’s taught thousands, and now helps with classes at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada. She said it’s helped her connect with other cultures.
“I love when other cultures are sitting here because they look at the symbols and motifs, and they tell me ‘oh this is what this is in my culture,’ and sometimes the meanings are exactly the same,” she said.
Each year the museum has an egg-cellent turn out, Pidskalny said.
“Everything is very popular, so we’ve added more from last year, and it looks like we’re going to add more opportunities to come to the museum and do classes next year,” she said.
If you’re wanting to give it a try, no need to scramble, classes continue until Ukrainian Easter on May 5.