Easter Eggs

About painted eggs:

Easter painted eggs with bright colors in geometrical patterns or stylized figures, animal and floral designs are traditional for Eastern Europe. The eggs painted in bright red symbolize the blood of Christ. East-Europeans used to place tiny plants around the egg and then boil them. When the plants are removed, white patterns are created.

Painting eggs started a long time ago as a pagan ritual. Christianity adopted this pagan tradition and Easter eggs have become an inedible feature of Easter.

In many parts of the world there are ancient myths in which the Egg features as a symbol of the Sun, Spring and Revival of Nature.

Easter eggs blessed in church by a priest continued to be used as a sort of charms for many different occasions: to be placed under the corner stone of a house; to help making bees to give more honey; to guard against misadventure on a journey; to secure happiness in marriage; to promote multiplication in the animal, floral and human worlds, this is to name just a few of its functions.

Symbolism of patterns & signs:

Wavy patterns symbolize rain; dots - grain which is about to sprout; squares and rhombi - earth and its fertility; the Greek cross - the Sun, and originally a god of the Earth; a zigzag with rounded angles - the snake which was a symbolical representation of a god of the Nether World; a tree - the sacred Tree of Life; a female figure - the Great Goddess; a fish - health, fertility, life and death; birds - creatures that are able to fly high and thus carry messages to the gods.

The shells of hard-boiled eggs are dyed in colorful patterns, with a rich red as the prevailing color. They are often decorated with folk motifs.

How to paint Easter eggs

As well as making inspirational gifts, decorative eggs make a lovely table-setting for Easter Sunday. Just arrange them in pretty, colored bowls or baskets with elegant colorful or white doilies and a little foliage or freshly cut grass, and place at either end of the table. Or follow the German tradition of hanging decorative eggs from spray-painted branches then scatter them throughout the house just as you would holly at Christmas time. The eggs could be either blown or hard-boiled and dyed.

How to blow eggs

Wash the egg and prick top and bottom with a thick needle. Peel away a little shell at the base. Holding the egg over a bowl, seal your lips over the top and blow hard. The egg will resist then come out in a rush! Rinse the shell carefully in cold water and prop up to dry.

Alternatively, eggs can be hard-boiled after they have been washed (and the shell degreased).

How to color eggs

• Use only food-grade dyes, such as red food dye or other colors;
• Dissolve the dye in warm water, add a pinch of salt and few drops of vinegar, then bring to boil;
• Dip the hard-boiled eggs and leave to color on all sides, after dying, leave the egg to dry on a plate with bloating paper;
• You could use onion skins to create a really glamorous Easter egg! Boil eggs (in shells) with onion skins and they'll turn a rich, glowing bronze. Then paint patterns on them using gold, silver or bronze pens.
• Alternatively, melt some candle stubs in a saucepan over low heat. Dilute a few drops of different food dyes in glasses of water. Dip egg first in the dye then into the melted wax just to cover the dye mark. The wax seals the dye so you can dip the egg in several colors without them running into one another. 
• You could also try patterning the egg with little stick-on circles and stars. Then paint with poster os spray paints. Peel off the lables to reveal the shapes in contrast underneath. For a two-color effect paint the whole egg first in a light color, stick on the labels, repaint in a darker shade and remove labels (the shapes will retain the original pale color).