Recommended
ages 3rd – 5th grade
Order your supplies from the Ukrainian gift shop. The gift shop’s
telephone number is (612) 788 – 2545 and their web site is www.ukrainiangiftshop.com.
You will need to order two dyes, both a yellow and orange dye, a medium kistka,
and a pure beeswax. If you’d like, you may also order a tri-leg clear Lucite
stand to display your finished egg and to give to the teacher as a small gift.
You can make an egg rest by hammering three nails in a small triangle onto a
small wood board.
You will need to prepare three eggs before hand to use while making your
presentation. Make a 1½ inch high cross out of an index card to use as a
pattern. Lightly trace your pattern unto the sides of three eggs with a #2
pencil. Light your candle and heat the tip of your kistka and scoop some beeswax
into the large end of the funnel. Again heat the tip of the kistka. The melted
wax will begin to flow from the tip of the kistka. Using the wax, completely
fill in the cross of two of the eggs and place in the yellow dye. After about
five minutes take the eggs out and place on the egg rest. Only partially fill in
the cross of the third egg – this is egg number 1.
Take one yellow egg and leave it as is - this will be egg number 2. Take
the second yellow egg and draw three straight lines out word in the four corners
of the cross (like sunrays) and place in the orange dye.
After about five minutes take the egg out and place on the egg rest –
this will be egg number 3.
When buying your eggs look for smooth eggs free of cracks. Try to buy your
eggs in a cardboard container because the cardboard allows them to breath. Do
not hard boil or blow out your eggs – the reason will be explained in the
presentation. Store your eggs at room temperature to avoid the wetness of a cool
egg.
Presentation using Ukrainian Easter Eggs
Ukrainian Easter Egg decorating has been handed down through generations of the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainians are famous the world over for their colorful Easter eggs called Pasanky. Over 2000 years ago before the time of Christ. People decorated eggs believing that great powers were embodied in the eggs. To them, eggs symbolized the release of the earth from the bonds of winter and the coming of spring with its promise of new hope and new life.
With the beginning of
Christianity. Easter eggs symbolized the coming of Jesus as baby, then his
death but the new hope and new life came when he rose from the dead and promised
an eternal or a forever life with him.
Legend has it that as
long as Pasanky are decorated, good will prevail over evil throughout the
world….Sounds like Power Rangers to me.
Pasanky
Rules:
Pasanky are not made to be
eaten. They are left raw.
Believe it or not raw eggs
in the end are stronger, less fragile than hard boiled eggs or blown eggs.
Hard boiling an egg leaves cracks in the shell.
If a raw egg is left
unbroken it will never smell and after 2 or 3 years the yoke inside evaporates
and leaves a seal on the inside of the shell making it very strong.
So, the whole purpose of
these eggs is to be given as gifts or used as a decoration all year round.
Easter is a special season
for Christians, so what I would like to do as I demonstrate to you how to
decorate a Ukrainian Egg, is weave into each step the history of the Easter
season that Christians around the world believe.
I promise to answer your
questions at the end so if you would wait to ask your questions that would be
great.
Easter
story: (Pick up your partially filled
egg (number 1) with the cross)
It was time for Jesus to go
into Jerusalem. Now He would ride
in on a donkey.
“Go
into the village and you will find a colt tied,” Jesus told some friends.
“Bring it to Me. If anyone asks, tell him I need it.”
The
men found the colt. Some people
asked what they were doing. They
told them Jesus needed it. Then
they brought the colt to Jesus. They
put clothes on the colt’s back and Jesus sat on it.
As
Jesus rode toward Jerusalem, people ran out to meet Him.
They cut branches and put them on the road where Jesus would ride.
Some even put clothes on the road.
“Praise
God!” people shouted.
“Praise King David’s descendant!
Praise the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” [Jesus rode on the
donkey’s colt into Jerusalem. Many
years before, the prophet Zechariah had said this would happen.
“Your king is coming, humble and riding on a donkey,” he said.] (may or may not use the line in the brackets depending on the attention
of the audience)
Passover
Later in the week, Jesus
and his friends were getting ready to celebrate Passover.
It is a Jewish holy day that the Jewish church celebrates to this day.
It is celebrated in remembrance of a time when the Jews were the slaves
of the Egyptians. God told Pharaoh through Moses to let them go free.
Pharaoh said “No”. Each time he said no God would punish him and the
Egyptians. He finally came to the
point of letting each first born son die. The
night he allowed them to die god told the Jews that if they placed the blood of
a lamb on the door He would Passover the household and let the first born son
live. This is why we honor and
celebrate Passover.
The
Last Supper
The two disciples had
prepared the food for the Passover supper.
Now it was evening, and Jesus had come.
His twelve special helpers were there too.
It was time to eat the supper in the upstairs room.
While they were eating,
Jesus said, “One of you will betray Me.”
The disciples were sad to hear this.
“Am I the one?”
each asked.
Jesus took some bread and
thanked God for it. Then He broke
it and gave it to His friends.
When the supper was over,
Jesus and His friends sand a song. Then they left for a place called Gethsemane.
While there He saw Judas
coming with a mob. Judas knew Jesus
would be here. He often came here
with His friends, the disciples. Now
Judas was bringing soldiers and guards from the religious leaders.
They carried swords and clubs and torches.
Judas had given the mob a
signal. The man I kiss is Jesus, he had told them.
Judas went to Jesus and
said, “Teacher!”
Judas kissed Jesus.
“Friend, why have you come?” Jesus
said to Judas. Then some men came toward Jesus.
“Who do you want?” Jesus asked.
“Jesus,” they answered.
“I am Jesus,” He said.
Then Jesus asked again, “Who do you want?”
“Jesus,” they said.
“I told you I am
Jesus,” He said.
“Why are you coming here for Me? I
have taught each day in the temple.
Peter had a sword.
He struck a servant of the high priest and cut off the man’s right ear.
“Put that away,” Jesus
told Peter. “I could ask my Father, and He would send, twelve armies of
angels. This must happen because
the Bible said it would.” Then all of Jesus’ disciples ran away.
When the soldiers and
guards took Jesus to Jerusalem, they led Him to Annas.
He was a high priest.
Annas sent Jesus to
Caiaphas, another high priest. Jesus’
hands were tied. The religious
leaders were waiting there. They
tried to find something wrong with Jesus. But
they couldn’t. Many told lies
about Jesus.
Jesus was quiet all the
time. “Won’t You answer?”
Caiaphas demanded. “Tell
me, are You the Messiah, God’s Son?”
“It is as you say,”
said Jesus. “Some day you
will see Me at God’s right hand, coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Caiaphas tore his robe.
“Blasphemy!” he shouted. “We
don’t need more witnesses. What
do you think?”
“He must die,”
the other religious leaders said.
Some spat in Jesus’ face.
Some slapped Him.
(light the candle with a match)
This is a Kiska.
I fill it with beeswax then warm the tip on the candle.
It heats up and melts the wax in the tip which flows through he tip.
Wherever I draw the wax it seals the color underneath no matter how many
dyes I put the egg in. Since it is
Easter I will draw a cross. (fill in the cross of egg number 1)
“Nail
Him to the cross,” the Roman officer shouted.
Roman soldiers nailed Jesus’ hands and feet to the wooden cross.
Then they set the cross up so people could watch Him die.
The sky grew very dark.
The earth shook and groaned. Rocks
burst in two. Christians believe
that God was showing people that Jesus was His Son.
The Romans ruled the land
of Israel in Jesus’ time. To
them, crucifixion was much like the electric chair is today.
It was their way of executing criminals.
But Jesus was not a
criminal. Some of the religious leader had accused Him falsely.
They hated Jesus. People
were following Jesus instead of them. So
they wanted to kill Jesus.
Jesus hung on the cross
most of that day. Then he died.
(Hold
up the egg with the cross facing the class)
If God is God and Jesus is
His Son, as Christians say, Why would God send His Son here just to die?
It doesn’t make sense. What
do you think?
(Wait for answers…)
I agree with you.
If I were to describe it in a sentence that is what I would say.
Let me explain it a little more clearly what Christians believe.
I’m going to place the
white egg into the yellow dye. Wherever
the wax is, though, will in the end remain what color?
(White)
(Place the white egg in the yellow dye)
(Pick
up the previously prepared yellow egg – egg number 2)
(While speaking make starbursts on the egg with wax)
Christians believe that God
is perfect. In fact so perfect they
call Him holy. So holy
that nothing unholy can be in his presence.
The last I checked I was
not perfect. The last time the
teacher checked neither was any of you.
God has a perfect design
for our life. It’s not so much
what you are going to be, but more how you are going to be; kind, not selfish,
not greedy. Good attitude, stuff
like that.
I’ll place my perfect egg
in the orange dye. But the straight
lines I just made will in the end remain what color? (Yellow)
(Pick up the orange egg with the straight lines that you have made
previously)
(While speaking begin
making a mess on the egg with the wax, scribbling all over the egg)
We sorta know how we’re
supposed to live, but we just decide not to live that way.
We basically mess up our lives.
So when we die, because we
were not perfect- or unholy, we are not allowed to be with God.
So, Christians believe that
Jesus died to pay that death punishment for us.
So the rest of the story is
about the actual day of Easter.
Early on Sunday morning
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome went to the tomb.
That’s where Jesus had been laid on Friday.
They wanted to put some spices on His body.
That’s the way people did it at the time.
“Look,” one of the
women said. “The stone is rolled away from the tomb.”
They ran to see what had happened. But
when they came to the tomb, they stopped and cried out.
Two men stood by them.
“Don’t be afraid,”
They said “Jesus isn’t here. He
is risen!”
So the women ran to tell
the disciples. This was good news.
It was the best news they had heard for a long time.
Jesus had come back to life. He
had risen!
The candle represents the
way God wipes away the yuck in our lives leaving the original design He planned
all along.
(Begin
passing the egg into the flame of the candle and wiping off the wax with a paper
towel as it melts. Be sure to hold the egg on the side of the flame in order to
avoid burning the egg with the top of the flame.)
Christians believe that by simply
believing this He can change your life now and promise eternal life with God
forever. (Pause here long enough to finish cleaning the beeswax off your
egg.)
So one reason people
decorate Easter eggs as a tradition is because it symbolizes new life, new hope
and hope of living with God someday forever.
Thank you for letting me show you this, Do you have any questions?
You can give your
finished egg to the teacher as a gift. It can be displayed on the clear Lucite
stand. You can ask them to clean or shine it up by using a little lighter fluid
with a paper towel.
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SITC-1.0-ENG-0003 17-Jul-2002
