Photo Album: Decorating Ukrainian pysanky eggs at Bates College

Bates College sophomore Amelia Hawkins, left, and Jacqueline Crucet select eggs Friday at a Ukrainian egg-decorating workshop at the Lewiston college. Artist and workshop leader Lesia Sochor of Belfast said the Easter eggs are a symbol of rebirth and new life and the tradition has been handed down for thousands of years. Eggs are decorated raw and dry out after several years. Eventually, the dry yolk can be heard rattling inside the egg. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Artist Lesia Sochor of Belfast demonstrates Friday how to apply wax to a chicken egg during a Ukrainian egg-decorating workshop at Bates College in Lewiston. She learned the ancient spring tradition of Pysanky from her mother, who fled Ukraine in 1944. Wax is applied to the eggs before they are dipped in in dye. The process is repeated for each color on the egg. At the end of the process, the wax is removed to reveal the design. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

A basket of goose and chicken eggs is displayed Friday in traditional Ukrainian folk designs at Bates College in Lewiston. Artist Lesia Sochor of Belfast held the workshop on the art called pysanky (pronounced pee-sank-uh), a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg decorated with folk designs using beeswax. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

A basket of decorated goose and chicken eggs is displayed Friday at Bates College in Lewiston. Artist Lesia Sochor of Belfast held the workshop on the art called pysanky (pronounced pee-sank-uh), a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg decorated with folk designs using beeswax. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Amelia Hawkins, a Bates College fine arts major, removes the wax Friday on her Ukrainian Easter egg during a workshop at the Lewiston college. Wax is applied to the eggs before they are dipped in in dye. The process is repeated for each color on the egg. At the end of the process, the wax is removed to reveal the design. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

An egg is lifted out of red dye Friday at a Ukrainian egg-decorating workshop at Bates College in Lewiston. The eggs are decorated using beeswax and dipped in a succession of dyes. The Easter egg tradition is called pysanky (pronounced pee-sank-uh). Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Jacqueline Crucet decorates a Ukrainian egg with a chicken design Friday at a workshop at Bates College in Lewiston. Artist Lesia Sochor of Belfast held the workshop on the art called pysanky (pronounced pee-sank-uh), a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg decorated with folk designs using beeswax. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Artist Lesia Sochor, right, of Belfast heats a wooden and metal tool called a kista Friday to apply beeswax to an egg at a Ukrainian egg-decorating workshop at Bates College in Lewiston. Caitlin Patton, left, and Jacqueline Crucet work on their eggs. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

A chicken egg decorated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and with its national flower, the sunflower, is displayed Friday at a Ukrainian egg-decorating workshop at Bates College in Lewiston. Artist Lesia Sochor told the legend of a monster who is chained to a cliff, and if many eggs are decorated, the chains stay strong and hold the monster. If people get lazy and stop decorating eggs, then the chains weaken and break and the monster is free to destroy the world. “We all know who the monster is,” Sochor said. “It’s never been as important to decorate as many eggs as possible.” Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Goose and chicken eggs decorated using the ancient spring tradition of Pysanky. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

An ostrich egg decorated using the ancient spring tradition of decorating Pysanky. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

A basket of goose and chicken eggs is displayed Friday at Bates College in Lewiston. Artist Lesia Sochor of Belfast held the workshop on the art called pysanky (pronounced pee-sank-uh), a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg decorated with folk designs using beeswax. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

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Andree Kehn