Rosemary Chorzempa sure knows her Polish traditions. Luckily she was kind enough to share her knowledge with an audience of eager learners on Tuesday, April 19th, at Ski’s Restaurant in Sylvania. Those who came to hear Mrs. Chorzempa explain some of the Polish traditions of Easter now know how to make a lamb out of butter for Easter dinner. They also know what type of steps go into making decorative Easter eggs (pisanki). Not only do you need to use beeswax and a tool called a kistka, you have to dye your egg with the lightest colors first to the darkest colors. If you don’t, your egg will definitely not come out how you would like it to. While explaining the folk art of pisanki, Mrs. Chorzempa encouraged everyone to gather around her table to get a better look as she demonstrated how to decorate one. She made it look very easy since she has been doing pisanki for many years. She also brought in a woven palm like many of our grandmothers use to make with the palms from Palm Sunday. Unfortunately it is becoming a lost art since parishes now only pass out one frond of palm instead of the four that you need to weave them into works of art.
If anyone would like to attend a pisanki workshop in May given by Mrs. Chorzempa, or for more information on the workshop, please call Ski’s at 419-882-1199. She will be teaching a pisanki workshop on May 10th and 11th at Ski’s Restaurant.
