Vegreville Pysanka Festival – July 2,3,4

Ah Vegreville, the proud home of the worlds largest Easter egg or Pysanka. An egg so big that we need a 3 day festival to celebrate it.  Cue the Vegreville Pysanka Festival.  As the biggest and best of its kind in Alberta, this 3 day fest always draws a wild, good lookin, polka lovin crowd. By day there is a Ukrainian dance competition followed by a grandstand show; and by night Millenia pumps out the good ol’ Uki tunes at the dance or Zabava. (who did steal the kieska anyway?)

Unfortunately my camera went m.i.a so if you have a couple good shots of the dance or the daytime fun drop me a line and I’ll throw them up here.

Here’s a little sampler of  what Ukrainian dance looks like for those that havn’t seen it. (check out the rest of the videos on Volya’s YouTube page too.)

Volya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble – Edmonton Alberta

The World’s Largest Easter Egg

By Jake Easton

EggFacts · Egg Width: 25.7 feet · Egg Height: 18.3 feet · Total Height: 31.6 feet · Material: Alumuinum skin · Turns like a weathervane · Weight: 5,000 pounds · Star Patterns: 524 · Triangular Pieces: 2,206 · Visible Facets: 3,512 · Nuts and Bolts: 6,978 · Internal Struts: 177 · Man Hours: 12,000

Vegreville, Canada is the site of the largest Easter egg in the world. The Easter egg or Ukrainian ‘Pysanka,’ was constructed in 1975 to commemorate early Ukrainian settlements in an area east of Edmonton.

The unique nature and complicated geometry of the egg shape made the design of the Pysanka a highly complex undertaking. Professor Ronald Resch, a computer scientist at the University of Utah, agreed to take on the design project.

Professor Resch was responsible for the entire Pysanka concept which required the development of new computer programs. The Pysanka is really an immense jig-saw puzzle containing 524 star patterns, 2,206 equilateral triangles, 3,512 visible facets, 6,978 nuts and bolts, and 177 internal struts.

World Recognition

As a result of Professor Resch’s work and leadership, the Pysanka is recognized around the world as not only a unique artistic masterpiece but also an achievement of nine mathematical, architectural and engineering firsts. The design represents the first computer modeling of an egg.

Thousands of tourists from around the world visit Vegreville annually and marvel at the Pysanka. It measures 25.7 feet long, 18.3 feet wide, and stands 31.6 feet high. It is one of the premier tourist attractions on the Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway.

The 2,000-pound aluminum skin is attached to the central mast at a 30-degree angle with 177 turnbuckle struts. Cessco International Ltd., Edmonton, fabricated the massive internal structure which weighs 3,000 pounds. The Pysanka rests on a 27,000-pound base of concrete and steel and turns in the wind like a weathervane.

Symbolic Meaning

Paul Sembaliuk, an authority on traditional Easter egg design, used three colors – bronze, silver and gold – to symbolize prosperity. Bronze is the predominant colour of the design and suggests the “good earth”, the land on which our forefathers struggled for survival and existence.

Five distinct symbols make up the design. The radiating gold stars on the end sections symbolize Life and Good Fortune. The three-pointed stars, in alternating gold and silver, symbolize the Trinity, representing the strong devotion to the faith of our ancestors. The band of silver circumscribing the Pysanka, with no beginning or end, symbolizes Eternity.

On the central barrel section, gold and silver windmills with six vanes and points symbolize a Rich Harvest. The most prominent motif of the design – the silver wolf’s teeth which point to the centre from the silver band – symbolize the main message of protection and security afforded our pioneers by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The dedication message is written in four languages: English, Ukrainian, French and German. It reads: “This Pysanka (Easter Egg) symbolizes the harmony, vitality and culture of the community and is dedicated as a tribute to the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who brought peace and security to the largest multi-cultural settlement in all of Canada.” 

Contributions

Considerable thanks goes to the Vegreville Chamber of Commerce for their excellent historical summary of the egg – and William Chow, for his copious research outlining the details of the egg’s design from an engineering standpoint.  Thanks also to stéphane at chumpchange.ca for use of the interesting photo.

Reference

In the concept and planning of the egg, nine “firsts” were achieved in mathematics, engineering and architecture. The design involved cutting edge computer graphics and students like Jim Blinn and Robert McDermott. There are 4 books that describe this project:  (1) Paul Hoffman’s book “Archimede’s Revenge.”  (2) Jim Blinn’s book “Dirty Pixels,” chapter 1 “The World’s Largest Easter Egg.”  (3) Jay Kappraff “Connections,” Chapter 9 “Transformations of the Platonic Solids”, (4) Theoni Pappas “The Magic of Mathematics,” “Laying an Egg Mathematically.” 

Tags: alberta, cultural, party

This entry was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 7:55 am and is filed under edmonton-area. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Vegreville Pysanka Festival – July 2,3,4”

1. Ryan Zupan says:

   July 9, 2010 at 5:37 pm

   LOVE to watch the Ukrainian dancing – very impressive.

   Reply