Creating goodness with every Easter egg

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/04/2023 (1053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Grade 5 students from all walks of life listen intently as their teacher tells them a Ukrainian folk tale: the more pysanky eggs that are made, the more goodness will prevail.

The 18 children will soon decorate pysanky eggs, which are made with melted beeswax and dye, an Easter tradition.

The North End Ukrainian Catholic school has brought in nearly 60 children whose families have fled Ukraine since the war began in 2022. Some sit among their peers, raising their hands and nodding as they intently listen to the story. Some struggle to answer questions in English, but try anyway, and their Canadian-born peers give them the space to do so.

It’s the first Easter in Winnipeg for many of the Ukrainian newcomers in the class, including 10-year-old Vlad Abrmiak, who is quick to offer commentary about his teacher’s explanation of psyanky. He describes the different types of egg decoration in Slavic culture in detail to a rapt audience.

When it’s time to paint the eggs, Vlad, whose family arrived in Winnipeg last May, accidentally crushes his first one, but he takes it in stride. He’s never painted a pysanka egg, but said he knows that back home, his family has a deep connection to the craft.

“My baba said that there is, in the Pysanka Museum in Kolomyia, Ukraine, my baba said that there is some pysanky(from) my family,” he said.

Sitting across from him, 11-year-old Vira Pivniak is more of a seasoned egg decorator.

“I’m doing it for the third time, so it’s easy for me to do it,” she said.

She joined the school in September, and arrived in Winnipeg from Kyiv earlier this year.

“I like it because here, the Immaculate Heart, my school, this school is so nice,” she said. “I have much more friends here. I can speak English, (I’m) practising every day, and practising doing French.”

She squints at the design she has traced on to her egg with wax.

“It’s showing me the flag of Canada,” she said, but notes she’s not sure if that’s the design she was trying to make.

“I didn’t know what to draw, so I draw what I want.”

The activity is one of several Easter events at Immaculate Heart; earlier this week students and staff baked paska.

This year, traditions carry a new meaning. After the war in Ukraine began and newcomers began arriving in Winnipeg, the school, which provides education in Ukrainian culture, language and religious studies, was quick to offer its services.

The public also responded quickly, and Immaculate Heart of Mary School collected nearly $100,000 in donations from Manitobans. The money has paid for tuition, uniforms, school supplies and English language programs for all of the students from Ukraine.

“We’re doing everything we can to help them feel supported here in Winnipeg, and at our school. Perhaps what’s a little bit extra special about our school is we have many staff that are fluent in Ukrainian, we have many Canadian students that are fluent in Ukrainian,” principal Rod Picklyk said.

“So immediately, when the new families come to us, you can just see that there’s a level of comfort, that at least there’s a common language that they can relate to, and it just helps, I think, put them at ease a little bit more.”

Donations are also going to support the parents of their students. Some of the students arriving are doing so with just their mother, Picklyk said, who often have to quickly find work. Child care for the parents who need it is also covered by the school.

“There are families that we know that have come, and are going to set up a life here, and stay here,” he said. “And so, if we can help in that settlement process and help them climatize and be comfortable with everything, we want to do all we can to do that.”

Many of the Canadian-born students have been there for seven years, having started in junior kindergarten. Yovini Garg is 10, and has spent the majority of her young life at Immaculate Heart of Mary School.

While focusing on her pysanky, she describes how her new friends from Ukraine have fit in well, and she’s learned a lot from them, too.

“It’s nice, meeting people from Ukraine,” she said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca