Embroidery of a traditional Sorbian Easter egg, made by me as an Easter gift for family members.
Feat: Blown-out sorbian eggs my aunt brought us years ago.
Although English isn’t my first language, I’ll try to explain the symbolism:
In Lusatia/ the Spreewald - more specifically, in Sorbian Culture - before every Easter we are meant to decorate the Easter eggs with the special technique, called Bossiertechnik, which requires wax, feathers, needle pens and natural dye. The decorated eggs are a gift from Godmothers and godfathers to their Godchild, as well as the Patensemmel, which is some kind of a bread roll.
Even though me and my sister don’t have godparents, every year, our aunt brought us her beautifully hand painted eggs. So this year, I also have a special gift for her and my uncle!
Historically, the tradition of Sorbian Eastereggs comes both from Christianity and Paganism, as well as medieval Folklore. Each symbol and color has it’s own meaning. After they’ve been gifted to the godchildren, they were rolled over a field for fertility and a good harvest. Another fertility spell was to ride a horse around the field. Both traditions were varied over the centuries - today, the Osterreiter are riding from one village to the other, to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord, and kids are playing Eierrollen as game (you and your friends are rolling your eggs down a hill - to win the game, your egg has to be the farthest or beat other eggs).
As I said, these colorful eggs don’t come without a special meaning. Of course, everything can be interpreted different from town to town, but overall, they just bring you good fortune.
So here’s how to interpret mine:
The suns you can see (in the middle, on the sides and on the top and the bottom) will bring you health and growth - they also symbolize, well, a sun. Putting three triangles into an ornament, is one of the strongest protections spells - the circles made of single triangles are there for protection too. In this egg, they not only protect the ones I’ll give this embroidery to, but also my wish for health and growth. The “V"s - called Crow’s foot - are used to boost the other symbols. The four single white flowers are meant to ensure a good future and more growth.
I used different tones of green for health and luck. White is like a basic color you’ll find in nearly every egg - some might say it stands for the holy spirit or Purity. Yellow is the color of the sun (I just used it for the aesthetic you know XD). Blue is meant to symbolise things like healing, peace or harmony.
So, long story short, the embroidery I did for my family members can be interpreted as a lucky charm for health, growth and peace.
Kurenti in Slovenia Dondolashi in Croatia Bushari in Baranja Koledari in Serbia Kukeri in Bulgaria Mechkari in Macedonia Kolednicy in Poland Kolyadniki in Ukraine Okrutniki in Russia
Important part of the Slavic winter solstice celebration were masked processions. Younger men, clothed in animal fur, carrying horns and bells would march from village to village throughout the region, making an extraordinary amount of noise, fueled in part by the wine provided by the locals. Their primary task is to scare away evil spirits, and bring fertility to household. In this zoomorphic costumes they would represent ancestors, who came from otherworld to celebrate beginning of the new cycle with the living. In the time of winter solstice cult of ancestors and cult of vegetation are heavily intertwined.
Ooooh, we love this! There are veeeery similar costumes, characters and celebrations that still survive in very different zones of Europe, that are clearly remains of a very ancient and common religion or rite.
See how similar masked characters we have in Euskal Herria:
In mainland Greece, too, we have similar “monsters” and rituals in various areas!
Sometimes the bride (usually played by a man) is abducted and it’s said to be a remnant of a re-enactment of the abduction of the goddess Persephone by Hades.
In other areas, the Dionysiac character of the festival is accentuated by the presence of a man who pretends to be the god of wine, vegetation, happiness, Dionysos.
Sunflowers (sunyashniki) are especially loved in Ukraine, where golden fields of them face the sunrise in the east. They are Ukraine’s national flower, and in folk imagery represent the warmth and power of the sun, which was worshipped by pre-Christian Slavs.
To my Ukrainian followers, stay safe and strong !
Love you all❤️
Still worshipped by non-Christian Slavs! Jarilo is our sun god and god of the harvest, including grains and seeds, such as sunflower seeds and wheat, which appears on Ukraine’s flag as the yellow band. Jarilo is also the god of defensive warfare - not of aggression or senseless destruction but of self defense and protection.
We pray each day for Jarilo to be with the Ukrainian people, protecting them and lending strength to their soldiers.
Slava Jarilo, god of the Slavs defender of the people born of fire, god of war made not to destroy but to protect shaped a daughter a girl-child chasing cattle in your father’s underground kingdom picked up a sword transforming, transitioning into a man to teach the people not to slaughter but to defend to live in peace until pressed to bear not the bite of the blade but neither to cut into mankind first
Jarilo, god of warfare, of the defender Jarilo, god of the oppressed and the attacked Be with our Slavic sister Ukraine Lend strength to her soldiers And hope to those who cannot fight God of war, be wherever the Russians try to invade Knock their aircraft and their missiles Burning from the sky Protect her children ANd be the fire in her guns the flames in the souls of protestors and the justice in the throats of those who cry ‘no war’
Marzanna (in Polish), Morė (in Lithuanian), Marena (in Russian), Mara (in Ukrainian), Morana (in Czech, Slovene, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian), Morena (in Slovak and Macedonian) or Mora (in Bulgarian) is a pagan Slavic goddess associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature. She is an ancient goddess associated with winter’s death, rebirth and dreams. In ancient Slavic rites, the death of the Goddess Marzanna at the end of winter becomes the rebirth of Spring of the Goddess Kostroma (Russian), Lada or Vesna representing the coming of Spring.
In modern times the rituals associated with Marzanna have lost their sacred character and are a pastime – an occasion to have fun and celebrate the beginning of spring. The tradition is usually celebrated around the spring equinox. Usually schoolchildren and young people participate in the celebrations alongside local folklore groups and other residents. A procession consisting of men, women and children carries handmade Marzanna (and often also Marzaniok dolls, the male counterpart to Marzanna) to the nearest river, lake or pond. The participants sing traditional songs and throw effigies of Marzanna into the water. Sometimes the effigies are first set on fire, or their clothes are torn.
During the last full moon we held a lunar event and encouraged our members to share content related to what they did for the full moon!
One of our admins @the-seidkona-of-polaris shared a photo of her space just before she began shifting it for workings, which included weekly devotional for Hel and a full moon spell work for a client ✨
One of our mods @auroras-corner set intentions and did a ritual to banish residual stagnant energy ✨
Many did small but meaningful things like making moon water, cleansing their home or blessing devotional items or divination tools. @manistemple shared their list of full moon ritual ideas. Have a look and get inspired for the next full moon! ✨
We have decided to stop posting prompts on tumblr in favor of making more posts about various clubs and events that we have going on in Pagan Sanctum. Daily discussion prompts are still happening in our Discord server, if you want to participate, join us via the link below! ✨
I have never seen a Motanka with a head like this. Love it.
For others: Motanka is a Ukranian folk tradition, a protective talisman. Similar to the Russian Bereginya, these dolls were made without faces, believing that a face would inspire a soul within (possibly a malevolent one). They were given to children, newlyweds, and pregnant women to safeguard against disease, insomnia, and misfortune. Bereginya was made by female relatives, and was more potent if made by more than one. The fabric to make it must be torn, not cut, from the clothes of the makers.
