I'll be celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 2018 my way — writing pysanky with the ancient mother goddess, a Ukrainian water spirit, as the motif. The berehynia with arms upraised was believed to be the source of life and death. Other symbols perched on a curl are given an s-shape with wings, often with a crown on the head. Sometimes the berehynia has become abstracted and is represented by a plant vazon (tree of life).
A symbol of Ukrainian freedom, she has been heightened to the status of a national goddess hearth mother and protectoress of mother earth. There is a berehynia monument in Kiev, Ukraine at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in the centre of the city. It sits on a column with a figurine of a woman with guelder-rose branch in her arms.
These are my representations so far with more to be written.
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