I have many fond memories of decorating Easter eggs. One of the nicest memories I have is from when I was 10 years old. My mother dropped my older sister and I off at the Sunrise Museum in Charleston, WV for an afternoon of Ukrainian Easter Egg painting, called “pysanka.” Pysanka is a type of egg decorating that involves folk designs using a wax-resist (batik) method. The word pysanka comes from the verb pysaty, "to write.” I remember using little wire utensils dipped in wax to create our designs and then we dyed them. After the dye, we pealed them off to reveal elaborate beautiful eggs. My sister and I were the youngest ones there and I can remember looking around the room and being amazed by all of the beautiful eggs.
Why do we decorate eggs? The custom of the Easter egg originated in the early Christians of Mesopotamia, who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion. The Christian Church officially adopted the custom, regarding the eggs as a symbol of the resurrection. We had this tradition in my childhood home too. Each place setting had a dyed red egg. I am not sure why I have failed to do that with my children, but this year I am doing things differently.
I have been thinking often about Passover, Easter and traditions. This year’s dinner will be different. My meal has been designed around traditional Passover foods. The colors I have chosen to decorate my table all have significance. You can learn more about my 2014 Easter plans by checking my blog. I will soon post all of the details on www.thelindeetree.com.
As for the Easter eggs, I love the detail of the Ukrainian eggs and wanted to create something similar. I decided to simplify the technique with a Sharpie® Marker. I chose the following colors.
Yellow: Symbolizes the Glory of God, divine nature, holiness, resurrection,
Red: symbolizes blood atonement, sacrifice of Christ's blood, death and life, love, redemption, sacrifice.
I simply dyed the egg with traditional PAAS® yellow egg dye. Let it dry for a few minutes then set my egg in an egg cup to keep it steady while I worked. I then used a red Sharpie® marker to create the designs. Don’t be intimidated by creating your design. Just create a simple pattern to repeat around the egg. Curves, dots, little flowers or whatever you choose.
Once you get started, it is easy. I chose to use yellow and red, but you can use whatever color you prefer. This is a great tradition to add to your typical egg dying routine. Fix a snack, turn off the phones, TV and all other distractions. Enjoy the conversation, stories, laughter and paint some eggs!
Lindee Katdare
