Kurshchyna is an ethnically mixed region  (Ukrainian and Russian) to the east of Sumy and Kharkiv.  It is considered a part of Ukrainian Sloboda (Slobozhanshchyna), but is now part of the Russian Federation.  Intensive russification efforts on the part of the Soviet government have caused a loss of Ukrainian ethnic identity in this region in recent times.

This is an ancient part of Ukraine, and has a wealth of interesting pysanka designs.  Some of the most interesting were collected from the village of Kozats’ka Sloboda; the fairly intricate designs are in white, yellow and red, with a black background, and feature many stripes and much fringe.  Kulzhynsky gives examples of these pysanky, and those of Kurshchyna, here in Table 2 of his book:

The pattern on this design sheet is taken from Onyshchuk:

She does not give its provenance, but her pysanka looks a lot like № 15 in Kulzhynsky’s table above; Onyshchuk seems to have simplified the pattern, getting rid of the double lines and the yellow color. Kulzhynsky’s pysanka was written in 1891 by Pelahia Natarova in the village of Kozatska Sloboda.  No name is given for this design.

The pattern on this sheet is a fairly simple version of pysanky from this area.  It contains both stripes (concentric lines) and lots of fringe; it lacks only yellow color. The name was given by Onyshchuk; it is based on the motifs having the appearance of spiderwebs.

Technical details: This is a moderately difficult pysanka because of the nesting (concentric) circles.  It is hard enough to draw a nice, round circle when you are a beginner, and even harder to draw a nested series of them.  The pysanka has a basic “Eight” division.

A medium stylus would have traditionally been used for this pattern but, if you have a very steady hand, a fine one can be used to nice effect.  

This pattern utilizes red and black dyes.   

While this is not an incredibly complex or intricate pattern, it’s not a good one for relative beginners, unless they have a high frustration threshold and steady hand.  The circles can be challenging, and drawing a series of rounded, parallel lines is a bit difficult.

Download this pattern sheet:

English

Ukrainian

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