After scouring the internet, soliciting suggestions, and searching down information spotted on banners and little roadside signs, I found around 100 upcoming pop-ups across a large swath of Arizona south of Picacho Peak.
Some are traditional holiday season markets and others are part of larger events or part of events that just happen to occur in November or December. Most of them are free. Many not only fundraise for the participating artists and crafters, but for other causes, community groups, schools, or organizations.
Where I could, I’ve included a few more details about what types of things you can find at the market and what other activities may be happening there. I tried to only include markets with handmade items for sale, but that’s not always clear.
I’m working on making a long list of the all the occasional / pop-up markets happening during the holiday season in Southern Arizona!
I’ve seen lists of top holiday markets in Tucson to shop, but there are so many more that don’t get mentioned. So I want to search out as many as Southern Arizona markets as possible, so you can peruse all your options in one list!
While I am an affiliate and may earn commission from purchases, it’s really not about Etsy as much as the individual makers who use it as a platform to sell their creations.
Since my recent autumn and indigo color palette article received such a great response, I thought I’d keep up the color-themed posts with a more wintery entry this time.
Currently on my mind is the combination of vibrant greens (from kelly to forest) paired with softer golds – think mercury glass, champagne, heirloom jewelry, candlelight.
Cake table via Elizabeth Anne Designs (photo: Jacque Lynn Photo)
While this combination could go modern, I particularly love it as a complement to rustic decor. It looks fabulous with natural materials like birch bark, adding just enough sheen to make it all feel chic and festive.
For a woodsy vibe, you can bring in the classic evergreen boughs and pinecones or whatever’s growing outside your door. Twigs, olive branches, rosemary sprigs, eucalyptus leaves, berries, potted cacti, or mossy driftwood could all work well.
“Ukrainians have been decorating eggs, creating these miniature jewels, for countless generations. There is a ritualistic element involved, magical thinking, a calling out to the gods and goddesses for health, fertility, love, and wealth. There is a yearning for eternity, for the sun and stars, for whatever gods that may be.”
–Luba Petrusha of pysanky.info
For agrarian societies dependent on seasonal crops, the end of winter brings the beginning of the growing season and the food to survive. So the return of spring represents life in a very real way.
By Bo&Ko. CCL.
With this in mind, it makes sense that many cultures of the distant past worshiped the sun, including ancient Slavic peoples. To them, eggs were associated with springtime, the sun god, and the life-giving cycle of the seasons.
A variety of styluses for creating pysanky, from traditional to modern. By Luba Petrusha. CCL.
Writing Pysanky
Pysanky are created using a wax resist process (similar to batik). Traditionally, you would have prepared dyes yourself, using natural materials like onion skins or red cabbage for color.
Then you would make the first part of your design on the egg’s shell by using a specialized stylus (a kistka) to apply melted beeswax, like putting a pen to paper. In fact, pysanka comes from the Ukrainian word for “write.”
Pysanka Brunch by Olga Strachna via Flickr (@olga_strachna). CCL.
After laying out the first part of your pattern in wax, you’d submerge the egg into your lightest shade of dye (let’s say yellow). While most of the egg then comes out yellow, your wax lines preserve the original color below (presumably, eggshell white).
Next, you’d put wax over the parts of your design that should remain yellow and sink the egg into the next darker shade of dye (maybe green).
You repeat the process of applying the wax and then submerging the egg in the next dye color, from lightest to darkest, for as many colors as you want in your design (or have dyes for).
Finally, you soften the wax and wipe it from the egg to reveal the full design.
Diagram showing the step-by-step process of creating a single “pysanka”. Originally in V. Shukhevych’s 1902 “Hutsul’shchyna”, via UMA Cleveland.
Since it may be a bit hard to visualize, I highly recommend the 1975 short film Pysanka: The Ukrainian Easter Egg. You can see the process demonstrated from start to finish, while the narrator explains the traditions and beliefs that go along with the ancient art form.
By Luba Petrusha. CCL.
Easter
So where does Easter come in?
Pysanky existed centuries before the life of Christ. However, as the Christian Church spread, it had a tendency to adopt/appropriate parts of the local culture wherever it went. Pagan symbols were reinterpreted with Christian meanings. Even the word “Easter” itself likely comes from the name of Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility and springtime.
The tradition of blessing Easter baskets full of food continues to this day in Ukrainian Orthodox churches. Photo by Suburban Grandma.
Decorating eggs became less about the return of the sun god and more about the resurrection of Christ. Over time, the tradition lost many of its ritual components, becoming increasingly associated with the Christian faith and the Easter holiday specifically.
Simplified versions of the practice became Easter traditions in other parts of the world, as well.
PAAS Easter egg dye company headquarters in Newark, circa 1931. Via NJ.com
Artificial Colors
By the 1800s, chemists had figured out how to make synthetic dyes. Among the products manufactured in the early days of this revolutionary technology were Easter egg coloring kits. So instead of using your own vegetable scraps or whatever, you could go purchase dyes at your local drugstore.
One of these drugstores was owned by William M. Townley in Newark, New Jersey. He stocked Easter egg dye kits imported from Germany (the top supplier of all things synthetic dye until WWI), but he wasn’t really happy with them.
So he came up with his own. While he didn’t invent Easter eggs, he did start selling dye powders in convenient pre-wrapped packets.
The product was such a hit that the Townley family transitioned from pharmacists to factory owners. The Paas Dye Company was created in 1881 and would soon be operating year round just to meet the Easter season demand.
By Orest Ukrainsky (@orest_u) via Flickr. CCL.
Hidden Easter Eggs
While springtime egg decorating became more common around the world, the tradition was officially prohibited in its country of origin when the Soviets took over in the 1930s. Perhaps the ban was because pysanky were associated with Christianity or perhaps because the art form is distinctly Ukrainian.
Still, the tradition survived, like countless other folk customs that empires have attempted to suppress. Some people made pysanky in secret. Others left Ukraine. These expats may have felt an even heavier responsibility to pass their culture on to the next generation.
Giant Pysanka in Vegreville, Alberta by eileenmak via Flickr. CCL.
When Ukraine regained its independence in 1991, the art form experienced a resurgence. Today, you can see pysanky in museums or take a class on making your own. As fragile as pysanky may look, they are surprisingly durable.
– More Pysanka Info –
“Pysanka” is the singular form of the word, “pysanky” is plural. I’ve attempted to use Ukrainian terms correctly, but I do not speak the language, so don’t take my word for it!
I’ll mention again the film Pysanka: The Ukrainian Easter Egg. It’s only about 15 minutes long. If you’re at all interested in pysanky, watch it! And don’t let the slightly 1970s trippy intro dissuade you.
Pysanky.info – history, patterns, photos, all things pysanky
“Eggs Hatch Rebirth of Ukraine Culture” – L.A. Times article published shortly after Ukrainian independence (March 1992) about Ukrainian-Americans being “keepers of the flame” of traditions like pysanka.
Live performances by Miss Olivia, Greg Morton, Salvador Duran, and Mark Insley.
All proceeds go to World Central Kitchen and the refugee resettlement efforts of Lutheran Social Services Southwest.
Donations online, at the door, and (if you’re unable to attend) checks payable to Hotel Congress LLC (memo: “May The Fourth Be with Ukraine”) and mailed to 311 E Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85701.
St. Mary’s Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Phoenix is raising funds for Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine.
Ongoing
So far they’ve donated $32,000 to support emergency relief efforts, like shipping medical supplies!
You can give via Paypal or credit card, check payable to St. Mary’s Protectress (memo: “Help Ukraine”), in person at the Ukrainian Cultural Center (730 W. Elm St, Phoenix, AZ 85013), or wire transfer (routing #021000021, account #767167682).
