With all the symbols and designs possible for a Brody pysanka, what goes where on an egg? According to my handout, the information–date and message–is coded only after motifs have been placed at either end of of the pysanka.

In the top half of the drawing below, you see that a sun symbol has been placed on the top of the egg (the “sharp” end), and a design coding Володя (Volodya), the signature of the pysankar, within an earth symbol, has been placed at the other end.  A dividing line is placed between each of these elements and the central portion of the egg. 

In the bottom illustration, a series of parallel bands code the date in this order (right)

1000

900

90

3

“R”  (rik/year)

Then there is a band with compounded symbols (left)

6 (6th day)

Waning moon

In the constellation Taurus

There is then a longitudinal band with symbols in it; they read (right)

“vid” (from)

“R”   (rizdva/birth)

“Kh” (Khrystovoho/of Christ)

(Note: the longitudinal band is placed only after all the horizontal bands are done, as detailed on the next page.)

So now you’ve encoded a signature, the year and the astronomical date.  What is placed next? A calendrical date and the message (go to next page)

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