Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Login
    Login Login form

The Stag and the Tree

 

 

"Any guesses as to what our all-time most popular pysanka is?”

I'm talking with Luba Perchyshyn, owner and co-founder of that longtime Minneapolis landmark, the Ukrainian Gift Shop. Not one to sit by with idle hands, she's working on an egg as we speak; I can smell the melted beeswax in the kistka as she works. Over the years, she's made—and sold—tens of thousands of pysanky. Her hands are deft and quick; the kistka makes little scritching noises as she draws the tip over the surface of the egg. She doesn't seem to have any problem at all carrying on a conversation while simultaneously constructing a complex three-dimensional design.

“What?” I ask, curiosity piqued.

She turns the egg to me. Written in blackened beeswax across the shell, two stags with branching antlers face one another, heraldic-wise, across a tree that in some ways resembles a giant flower.

We've not only sold more of these than any other design, we've sold way more of these than any other design, for years now,” she says.

“Really?” I say, intrigued. What the Christian significance of the pattern—if any—may be, I don't know. Twin Stags, and the Tree of Life? As a pagan, it seems clear enough to me what's going on here; we're all cervophiles, pagans. “Why, do you think?” I ask.

“I have no idea,” she says. “People sure do like it, though.”

She pauses, kistka motionless in mid-air.

“What is it about trees and deer?” she asks, shaking her head.

 

 

 

 

 

Last modified on
Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

Comments

  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham Friday, 28 January 2022

    That's interesting, in "Two Flutes Playing" by Andrew Ramer it says that the recuring monomyth for gay men is two men together under a fruit tree. Think king Ling of Wei and Mi Mi Tzu-hsia under a peach tree or Lono and Kapa'ihi under the Koa tree. In a Christian context I guess the twin stags could represent David and Johnathan.

  • Please login first in order for you to submit comments

Additional information