Easter eggs
The custom of coloring eggs is a tradition over 2,500 years old that has its roots in Mesopotamia.
Colored eggs, symbols of rebirth and new life, were the essential part of the spring celebration of
awakening nature after winter.
The Christian Church adopted the pagan custom to mark the spring holiday of Easter, a new life of the risen Jesus.
There are many ways of decorating Easter eggs in Europe. They can be multicolored or just red eggs decorated with floral motifs and volutes, crosses, and palm branches. Some nations decorate just two sides of an egg with the same motifs; others make the whole egg one decoration.
In the Dubrovnik area, we traditionally make decorations with beeswax. Use a grass, pin, or pen to apply hot wax on the uncooked eggshell, and then slowly cook it in vegetable dyes, most often in onion peels or rose madder (Rubia tinctorium). Parts sealed with wax will stay white, while the rest of the shell will turn red.
A humble gift to express the deep devotion
On the Easter morning, you will give the first egg to a person you care about the most, like a partner or a child. Hence, the skilled artist writes messages on eggs such as “This egg is a gift just for the black eyes to see it” or, “This egg says I wish you the Happy Easter!” usually in verses.
For those who are not skilled in painting on eggs, you can put the tip of a parsley or celery sprig on the egg, as well as some other plant whose leaves have jagged tips, squeeze the leaf on the egg with some net (it can be an old pantyhose) and cook it in color. Or, to make it simple, you can paint the eggs and then decorate them with purchased stickers, usually with the characters of Easter bunnies and chickens. No matter how you make it, the most important is to express your devotion and emotion.
Easter eggs
The custom of coloring eggs is a tradition over 2,500 years old that has its roots in Mesopotamia.
Colored eggs, symbols of rebirth and new life, were the essential part of the spring celebration of
awakening nature after winter.
The Christian Church adopted the pagan custom to mark the spring holiday of Easter, a new life of the risen Jesus.
There are many ways of decorating Easter eggs in Europe. They can be multicolored or just red eggs decorated with floral motifs and volutes, crosses, and palm branches. Some nations decorate just two sides of an egg with the same motifs; others make the whole egg one decoration.
In the Dubrovnik area, we traditionally make decorations with beeswax. Use a grass, pin, or pen to apply hot wax on the uncooked eggshell, and then slowly cook it in vegetable dyes, most often in onion peels or rose madder (Rubia tinctorium). Parts sealed with wax will stay white, while the rest of the shell will turn red.
A HUMBLE GIFT TO EXPRESS THE DEEP DEVOTION
On the Easter morning, you will give the first egg to a person you care about the most, like a partner or a child. Hence, the skilled artist writes messages on eggs such as “This egg is a gift just for the black eyes to see it” or, “This egg says I wish you the Happy Easter!” usually in verses.
For those who are not skilled in painting on eggs, you can put the tip of a parsley or celery sprig on the egg, as well as some other plant whose leaves have jagged tips, squeeze the leaf on the egg with some net (it can be an old pantyhose) and cook it in color. Or, to make it simple, you can paint the eggs and then decorate them with purchased stickers, usually with the characters of Easter bunnies and chickens. No matter how you make it, the most important is to express your devotion and emotion.
