design chai

Exploring the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, India

For more photos and videos from the temple, browse the #Meenakshi hashtag and explore the Meenakshi Amman Temple location page.

In the center of Madurai, the oldest city in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, the Meenakshi Amman Temple stands as a mythological and architectural symbol of the region. Initially founded in ancient times and rebuilt to reflect urban planning methods around the 17th century, the Hindu temple is dedicated to the legendary Goddess Meenakshi and her husband Lord Sundareswara (also known as Parvati and Shiva).

The Egg Painter, a beautiful profile of Elena Craciunescu and the traditional Easter egg painting that she skillfully enjoys in a small village in Romania’s northern region of Bukovina. Filmed by Prague-based Titus-Armand.

A friend of ours just recently learned how to create eggs like these. In Ukrainian, the folk art is called Pysanky, from the word pysanka and the verb pysaty, meaning to write. In this case, the writing is in beeswax, similar to batik. It’s a traditional art form in many countries across Eastern Europe.

You can read more at NPR’s The Salt, see more examples at Katya Trischuk’s Etsy Shop, and yay! There’s a DIY at Instructables.

In the archives: more eggs and a few more cultural traditions.