The article deals with the pysanka (Ukrainian easter decorated egg) art of the Zhytomyr Povit at the end of the 19th – the first third of the 20th century. The research was based on the materials of the Archival Scientific Funds of Manuscripts and Phonorecords of the Maksym Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The principles of historicism, objectivity and continuity were used for their processing, as well as for the preparation of the publication. The methods of search, systematization, analysis of the obtained data and their generalization were used at the same time.

It is established that the pysanka art and pysanka decorating existed in the Zhytomyr Povit for a long time. It is noted that information about pysankas and their images are presented in the well-known album-catalogue of Serhii Kulzhynskyi published in 1899. The foundation and activities of the Association of Volyn Researchers in Zhytomyr was of great importance for the gathering information about the region’s pysankas and pysankas for the Volyn Local Lore Museum. The information about pysankas existence and their use in the customs and ritual traditions of Ukrainiansin the years of the establishment of the Bolsheviks regime in villages and its struggle with religion recorded in the 1920s is also important. It should be noted that the materials were sent to the address of the Ethnographic Commission of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Some samples of folklore texts performed by girls during the making of Easter attributes – pysankas were found during the study of archival manuscripts.

Thus, the researched documents testify that, despite the active struggle of the Bolsheviks against religion, the ban on the celebration of religious holidays and the use of sacred attributes such as Easter eggs, the population supported the celebration of Easter, preserved beliefs, customs and traditions.

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