Tradition

I’ve always really liked tradition. I don’t consider myself traditional in the conservative sense, and I love creating new traditions, but I also appreciate the continuation of certain rituals. There’s something about repeating a practice that can only continue through the act of doing it. Reading about it is not enough. Talking about it doesn’t do it justice. You have to feel it. Experience it.

This is definitely the case with Ukrainian pysanka egg decoration, a tradition I’ve had with my family for as long as I can remember. Decorating pysanky eggs is a simply, yet finicky and time-consuming process that usually results in beautifully hand-dyed eggs. The technique is somewhat similar to relief printmaking or Batik fabric design in that you work with layers of colour dye, using a wax pen, called a stylus, in between each step of the dyeing to block patterns and images.

This past Easter, I pulled out all my tools, made five jars of dye and put out an open invitation for people to join me. Sitting around the dining room table, watching friends concentrate and create their unique designs was really special for me. Almost to a surprising extent, why did I care about decorating eggs so much? But I realized it made me feel at home. The space created through our experience was one of family, heritage, friendship, experimentation and creative expression. I don’t get to see my family—who live on the other side of the country—very often, but through this process I instantly recalled feelings and images from when I was eight in my family’s old kitchen. It was as if we were all together again.

 I think a lot about the built environment—the physicality of the place we inhabit. But this week made me think about spaces created, not just through tradition, but also through our collective embodiment of tradition and the connections it creates between the past and present.