1. It’s Easter weekend; I love me some religious syncretism, so reading about the ancient origins of Ukranian easter eggs (pysanky) was right up my alley:
In ancient beliefs, the cosmic egg, from which everything emerged, was born from and divided by a serpent–god of the earth, of the underworld, and of fire. Thus, an egg, the symbol of the serpent, the male deity of the earth, who was considered, along with the original goddess mother, to be the creator of everything alive on earth–was one of the main elements of a pagan spring holiday dedicated to the spirit of rebirth.
(I also love me an obsessive single-topic site; this one has many cool images of regional differences between pysanky.)
“The pysanky on this page are all from the western part of Podillia (see map here), and many display a berehynia (goddess) or serpent motif.”
2. My Lutheran ancestors want me to balance all these pagan snake gods with some “real” Easter stuff. Today’s the day for listening to the St Matthew Passion.
3. The more I scrolled down, the more I learned!