Easter eggs

Unknown artist

Easter eggs are painted in many Polish homes, but are also created by specialized folk artists for decorative purposes. The photo shows the simplest Easter eggs.Drawing patterns with melted wax is one of the oldest techniques for decorating Easter eggs. In order to get the right pattern, it is drawn on the egg with hot wax before coloring it, and then the egg is boiled in the selected color. Eggs are colored different colors by cooking in natural substances such as onion peel (brown), oak or alder bark or walnut shell (black), beetroot juice (pink), young rye shoots (green), etc. Artificial dyes are used to decorate the shells themselves.The tradition of decorating Easter eggs dates back to the early Christians of Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Eastern Europe. The oldest found Polish Easter egg come from the end of the 10th century. The Easter egg is associated with the symbolism of the egg as the beginning of a new life, and in the Christian tradition it is associated with the resurrection of Christ. Easter eggs, blessed on Holy Saturday, along with other products such as bread, cake, salt, sausage, are eaten for breakfast on Easter Sunday.