Easter In Russia

It’s time for the Easter Bunny! This coming Sunday millions of people across the globe will be celebrating Easter in their own ways. Christians in Russia have been celebrating this holiday since the time of Christ with public gatherings and feasts. Russia is traditionally an Eastern Orthodox country as opposed to the Western Christianity of the United States that is predominantly composed of Protestants and Roman Catholics. These different sects of Christianity are all celebrating the same thing, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but they often do it on different days. The Eastern Orthodox church keeps a different calendar than the Western Church does, and therefore Easter is often celebrated at different times of the year depending on which calendar you follow. However, this year it just so happens to be that each calendar places Easter on the same day, April 24^th.In Russia though instead of hiding eggs like we do here in America, they spend their time dying and painting eggs. Russia has long revered the egg as an eternal symbol of life. Many homes in Russia will have eggs on display all year round, but especially at Easter time. Pisanki are very popular in Russian homes. Even the royal family celebrated the holiday with elaborate egg displays. Here is a picture of an Easter egg from the house of Alexander III that dates to 1890. This magnificent work of art is currently on display at the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis. This Sunday, people all around Russia will be dying their eggs red, thus continuing an age-old tradition. The red color is meant to symbolize the blood of Christ. And just like here in America, Easter in Russia is always accompanied by a large feast where family and friends come together to appreciate one another and celebrate life. Happy Easter.

Pisanki, Andy Warhol, and the Atomic Bomb.

Famed American artist Andy Warhol, Pisanki (also spelled Pisanky), and the atomic bomb, don’t seem like they belong in the same sentence together. However It seems Andy Warhol’s mother, who had a big influence on his artistic talents, decorated eggs in the Pisanki style during Easter time in Ukraine.

According to Raymond M. Herbenick, these decorations apparently had an affect on some of Warhol’s work, who sees in Warhol’s 1965 Atomic Bomb “…a series of mushroom clouds, the pattern being similar to mushrooms or wheat sheaves drawn on pysanky.”

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