For Irena Woszczak, decorating Easter eggs is a craft her mother brought here from the old country after facing deportation during World War II in Eastern Europe.

“My mother, who was widowed very young and was able to educate her three children and raise them, always said her heart was in Poland, but she was very grateful for the fact that this country afforded her the opportunity to raise her children and educate them and practice her traditions and culture in peace,” Woszczak said.

The painted eggs, or pisanki, are a symbol of peace and new life in the spring.  

“We don’t have to look far that there are so many people in the world now struggling in that same part of the world, in Ukraine now, wishing for the peace to be able to paint a pisanki and to be able to bless their food and share it with their families,” Woszczak said.

Woszczak still uses melted beeswax from her grandfather to create designs on the eggs in the traditional way. The eggs then go into a pot of boiling liquid from onion skins that serves as a dye. Out of the pot, she shines the eggs with lard to reveal the artwork underneath the wax.

“And there’s the designed egg after it’s all shiny and clean,” she said.

That’s just one of many methods to decorate the eggs. Another uses a pump to remove the liquid from inside the eggs, leaving just the shells, dyed in vibrant colors. While Woszczak uses real eggs, you can also find hand-crafted wooden eggs that are often imported from Poland and other Eastern European countries around the Easter holiday. 

“All different types of techniques, pretty much all saying the same the same thing,” Woszczak said. “Christ is risen and we’re celebrating. The tomb is not the tomb, he broke out of the tomb, but in all different ways.”

It’s a custom she’s making sure to pass down to her own family each year when they gather for Easter.

“I tell them all the time it’s mandatory or you don’t inherit anything unless you keep this traditions and culture going,” Woszczak said.

A beautiful sign of heritage and hope carried over from half a world away.