PYSANKY EGG DECORATING WITH SAIDA SHARAPOVA

Music4Romania (www.music4romania.org) cordially invites you to its first event of the 2025 series “Letters to the Future” to be held on Sunday, March 30, from 3 to 6 PM, at The Episcoipal Church of St. Francis of Assisi (3545 Cahaba Valley Road, Indian Springs, AL 35124). Georgia-based artist Saida Sharapova will lead a Pysanky Egg Decorating Workshop where participants will learn to decorate Easter eggs, incorporating Romanian and/or Ukrainian colors and symbols, and then take home their decorated eggs just in time for Easter! The participation cost of $25.00/person (payable by check or cash only, on site) includes all supplies as well as a cheese and wine tasting. Everyone is invited and welcome! Please RSVP by replying to this email (avoicu1970@gmail.com) or by calling (205)807-5814 by March 23, 2025.

Music4Romania’s 2025 series “Letters to the Future” aims to present uplifting events that speak the language of the heart, bypassing any boundaries, building bridges and uniting people from various backgrounds, and carrying a message of hope and beauty for the future. It is our hope that you will be joining us at all our events! Please mark your calendars for Music4Romania’s next event – “To My Mother” –  celebrating mothers and mother-like figures through Romanian folk tales and beloved music, to be held at Baptist Church of the Covenant on Sunday, May 11, at 7:00 PM; a reception honoring all mothers present will follow the concert. Also, although it is very early, please make plans to attend the 2nd Annual DOR: A Romanian Festival to be held at The Episcopal Church of St. Francis of Assisi on Sunday, September 14.

A few words about the Pysanky Egg Decorating Workshop on March 30:

A pysanka is an egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs, using a wax-resist method. A native of Uzbekistan, the artist leading our workshop, Saida Sharapova, started writing Pysanky after moving from Atlanta to Kyiv, Ukraine in 2019 and accidentally attending a workshop led by Zoya Stashuk. She said it was “love at the first wax line,” and since then she continuously expanded her skills and started teaching her own students. She finds inspiration in geometrical shapes, nature, and international folk arts and strives to write traditional Ukrainian Pysanky with the aim of preserving and spreading this art in its original sacred form. Each pysanka is a message with wishes of peace, safety, prosperity and unity with the Universe, and the lines, colors, and symbols used carry a positive meaning.

In Romania, painted eggs are the most colorful and loved part of the Orthodox Easter celebration. The colors and symbols used to decorate the eggs vary according to the region, but a few colors are constantly used: red is love; black is eternity; yellow is youth and rich crops; green represents nature; and blue means health and sunny skies. The decorative motifs are also diverse, mixing symbols like the cross or the star with nature and animal representations. The use of symbols is also influenced by regional and local elements. This is the case of the artisans from Ciocanesti, Bucovina, who use the geometrical motifs painted on the houses from their village to decorate their creations. The lines used in the painting process have their own meaning. If the straight vertical line means life, the horizontal one means death. The double straight line and the spiral symbolize eternity while the curved line is water and purification.