Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Mar 15/06) - A group of Rankin Inlet students took their eggs with a hint of opera earlier this month.
Irena Lytwyn's son, Jeremy Szczurko, and daughter-in-law, Wendy Rutledge, both teach at Maani Ulujuk high school in Rankin.
Rutledge runs the school's music program and enlisted a little help from Lytwyn to spice up the class. Lytwyn is an experienced opera singer and still teaches classical singing privately in her home in Niagara Falls, Ont.
"Wendy was looking for someone to deliver a different perspective to the students and, being Ukrainian, I saw a chance to expose them to another culture," said Lytwyn.
"It worked out well for all of us."
Lytwyn spent about a week at the school, leading the students in singing before bringing in her tools to make traditional Ukrainian eggs.
She said the eggs help her highlight the importance of keeping one's traditions alive.
"It's easy to lose your traditions if you're not careful. When the Ukraine was under Soviet rule, Ukrainians were not allowed to keep their traditions.
"After the Soviet Union crumbled, some people from Canada who learned the traditions from their grandparents went back to the Ukraine to teach our traditions to the children there.
"It was very sad because so many of them had no knowledge of their own traditions."
The process begins by applying wax over a white egg.
Then the egg is placed in different dyes, one at a time, which maintain their colour when designs are added.
Lytwyn said four dyes are usually used to produce a colourful egg with unique designs.
She said the Rankin students were quite creative with their egg designs.
"Some children have more patience and are more artistic than others.
"It requires a steady hand, so there were different levels of creativity evident when they finished. There were a couple that were very, very good.
"This was my first time in Nunavut and I hope the students enjoyed their exposure to my traditions as much as I enjoyed being exposed to Inuit culture."