Stories of Alberta: Vegreville Pysanka (Easter Egg)

Vision Credit Union • Apr 04, 2023

You know you're home when...

Vegreville Alberta Ukrainian Pysanka Royal Visit

Pictured: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visit the Vegreville Pysanka

“It's a symbol of life, of eternity, having no beginning and no end…"

Ask anyone in Vegreville, Alberta what their town is known for and you’ll get a resounding answer: the World’s Largest Pysanka. This giant Ukrainian Easter egg, measuring 25.7-feet long, 18-feet wide and 31-feet high has a story as great as its stature.

Orest Olineck is someone who knows that story well. Like many folks in the Vegreville area, Orest’s family heritage is Ukrainian. He grew up on a farm in nearby Lavoy, and spent his entire adult life living and working in Vegreville. Now retired, Orest remains an active member of the Vegreville Cultural Association and helps organize the annual Ukrainian Pysanka Festival.

He explains that there’s more to the Pysanka than an Easter egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian designs. “It's a symbol of life, of eternity, having no beginning and no end…In some way, the early Ukrainians associated a decorated egg with the resurrection, with the rise of Christ, with the hope of everlasting life,” says Orest. “Pysanka comes from the verb Pysaty, which means to write. And they're really very unique, each one is unique.”

Arguably, the most unique of all is Vegreville’s Pysanka. Its story begins in the early 1970s, when the Government of Alberta distributed grants to construct monuments in honour of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for their centennial celebrations. The Vegreville and District Chamber of Commerce spearheaded the project, proposing the concept of a giant Pysanka to symbolize the peace and security the RCMP brought to the early Vegreville community. It was a perfect solution. They just had to find someone to execute it.

“Giant Pysanka maker” isn’t exactly a common occupation, but the Chamber of Commerce did their research. “They found a computer scientist (Dr. Ron Resch) at the University of Utah who had agreed to take on the design project and see if he could design an egg that would stand the test of time,” says Orest. Resch teamed up with Paul Sembaliuk, an artist of Ukrainian descent from the Vegreville area, to bring the vision to life.

They were the perfect team, marrying art and science to create this marvel of a monument. “It's really an immense jigsaw puzzle,” says Orest. “It contains 524 star patterns and 1108 equilateral triangles. You don't see any of the structure that’s holding it together from the outside — it’s all internal… All of those triangles put together are made of aluminum. And the colours were heated into the aluminum so they wouldn’t fade.”

Sembaliuk and Resch really did design something to stand the test of time. The Vegreville Pysanka, a tremendous tribute to the RCMP, has become a world-renowned attraction and an unparalleled showpiece of traditional Ukrainian culture. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip even came to see it with their own eyes, a special memory for Orest and his family. “The community was honoured to have her. They put on a great big show for her. The children Ukrainian danced for her. I remember my children, two of them, were in the dance group at that time. And they remember very fondly how they were there, dancing for the Queen,” he says.

And that’s how the story of the Vegreville Pysanka is intertwined and passed down with the stories of the people of Vegreville. And for their community, it really has become an everlasting symbol of life.

“Of the great variety of projects undertaken to mark the Century Celebrations, none can be regarded as more unique than the Ukrainian Easter Egg, 'Pysanka,' undertaken by Vegreville.

It is spectacular in its contrivance to combine the ancient traditions of one of Alberta's largest ethnic groups with architectural and geometrical developments that represent a 'breakthrough' in modern science, thus linking heritage and progress.”

- Alberta RCMP Century Celebrations Committee, 1975

What does a traditional Ukrainian Easter look like?

Orest Olineck (Vegreville Cultural Association): To Ukrainians, Easter is almost synonymous with the Pysanka, that is the Easter egg. Because, at Easter, they really do a lot of work in making Easter eggs. And that's because it's a symbol of life, of eternity, having no beginning and no end… And so, in some way, the early Ukrainians associated a decorated egg with the resurrection, with the rise of Christ, with the hope of everlasting life.

The art of decorating the egg is very unique because it's creative. And it's become so artistic that it's something to be treasured and loved. In the old days, in the weeks before Easter all households were busy cleaning, preparing special traditional food and making Easter eggs. The children were involved and they wrote these Easter eggs, they dyed them and they wrote symbols, and so on.

In terms of food, one of the unique things is preparing a special traditional bread called a Paska. It’s a round loaf of bread, that's twisted, and it's made round again—round because it's everlasting. There's no beginning or end. And that becomes the centrepiece of a basket of food they'd get ready to take to church for blessing, including boiled eggs, cheese, spicy sausage, baked ham, pickled beets, horseradish, butter, pastries and Pysanka.

They put a candle in the middle of the Paska and then cover the whole thing with a beautifully embroidered cloth. Prior to attending Easter service, they bring the baskets to church and the priest blesses them with holy water. And he announces "Khrystos Voskres," which means, “Christ has risen.” And that's the reason for the Pysanka; the egg, that's going to resurrect itself. And that's the reason for Easter, for the celebration, to announce that Christ has risen.

Hymns are sung throughout the service and, at the conclusion, the baskets are all uncovered and the candles are lit. The priest blesses each basket again with holy water. People greet and embrace each other and exchange or give Pysanka to each other, they share them.

Then the families go home, they place their basket on the table and they eat the consecrated food. The father, after leading a prayer, cuts the consecrated boiled egg into several pieces, one for each member, then greets the family with the traditional salutation, "Khrystos Voskres.” This symbolizes family unity. And on Easter Sunday, the celebration or get-togethers are between families. So, that's what Easter is; the preservation of time honoured traditions and rituals. And we hope they continue to happen.

Thank you to Orest Olineck of the Vegreville Cultural Association for providing insights and vintage photographs for this story.

If you'd like to safely donate to the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal, here are a few organizations collecting humanitarian aid funds:

< Older Post Newer Post >

Mail

BACK TO STORIES