Casso Anniversary, Rhea, 2003

The Cassos are a Christian couple who live in rural Tennessee with their six children. They are originally from New Orleans. This is the story I included with their 25th Anniversary pysanky:

"The basis of this design is from a quilt pattern called “Double Wedding Ring.” This interlocking motif ensures that any evil will travel around and around, getting trapped in the design.

The large diamonds where the rings overlap contain the fleur de lis, which is based on a stylized iris or lily. Since the Middle Ages, the fleur de lis has been used as the symbol of France, and later became the symbol of New Orleans. Legend has it that the tears Eve cried as she fled the garden of Eden turned into lilies; the lily is often used to symbolize the Blessed Virgin.

The colors used on this pysanka are the traditional Mardi Gras colors: yellow, green and purple.The zig-zag lines surrounding the names and date are a pattern known as “wolves teeth.” They stand for wisdom and loyalty.

The bee is an important part of your lives, and is symbolic of industry, creative activity and wealth, all associated with honey. Bees have another symbolic meaning: their name in the insect order is hymenoptera, deriving its name from the Greek word bymeno, or ‘god of marriage’. While a swarm of bees indicates bad luck, your pysanka has only six bees: five have a black head and one has a white head, to represent your five daughters and one son."

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