Thursday, April 5, 2007
Easter would not be Easter without Easter eggs. This symbol has been a part of this spring time holiday for generations. Easter Egg decorating is something that we all love to do and various countries and cultures each have, over the years, developed their own unique ways of making Easter eggs and special and memorable part of this holiday. Traditionally given as gifts, lets take a look to see how different countries have developed different styles of Easter egg decorating based on their own unique culture.

Poland-Polish Easter eggs come in several different types depending on how the Easter egg is created. There are various ways these can be created one way is by boiling the egg in a mixture of plants to create a particular color, the color depends on the blanks used. Brown is created by boiling the eggs in onion peels, black, oak or alder bark or walnut. This process is called Kraszanki, malowanki or byczki and these types of polish Easter eggs take their name from it.

After the eggs have finished boiling and are dyed designs are carved into them by scratching the surface of the egg with a sharp tool, this takes off the dye in the scrapped areas creating a white design. Pisanki are created by either drawing within a coating of wax placed over the egg or by drawing with wax the egg is then placed into a dye bath. These are traditionally handed out on Easter Sunday and shared during a meal.


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The Ukraine Easter egg is created in a very similar process to the Polish Easter egg however the designs are usually complex geometric shapes, works of art in themselves, they are given as gifts of great honor during the Easter holiday season. Greece- Traditional Greek Easter eggs are dyed a solid red to symbolize the resurrection and how Christ’s blood washed away the sins of man.

Germany and Austria- These two closely related countries share a common and diverse culture reflected in their Easter egg practices, These two countries share a common practice of decorating hollow eggs or passing green eggs out on the Thursday after Easter Sunday.

British Isles- Here Easter egg decorating shows up in a variety of styles and colors, usually far simpler than Eastern Europe’s practices, however, the British have something truly unique to do with their Easter Eggs, they roll them, the object, is to make it down the hill rolling your egg without breaking it.

The United States is truly a melting pot, here people of all nations and cultures gather so naturally reflected in our Easter Eggs, a prime example the White House Egg Roll. Obviously the modern day easter egg has become a chocolate creation rather than the more traditional decorative one. That said many countries still carry on the tradition of the easter egg hunt. However if you were to ask people in the street what their idea of an easter egg is you would probably find that they would say the chocolate easter eggs.


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posted by Dave Richards at Thursday, April 05, 2007 ¤ Permalink ¤


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