European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Living today egging on tradition easter decorations easy to make by Sharon Hudgins special to stripes Magazine we tend to associate coloured eggs with the Celebration of but the custom of decorating eggs actually predates archaeologists in Europe have uncovered eggs with ornate made thousands of years before the Christian and folklorists Tell us that decorated eggs were part of Pagan Spring for which eggs were painted with Bright colors to symbolize blossoming so perhaps it was inevitable that the Symbol of the creation of new would also find a place in religious observances celebrating the resurrection of today easter eggs Are made from a wide variety of materials natural eggs shells Goose blown with the egg White and Yolk intact but or hard boiled edible substances such As or Marzipan precious enamelled decorations Range from solid colors to painted or Bati ked coloured and and the designs can be symbolic whatever suits the egg decorators the production of decorated eggs reached its High Point with the creations of the famous jeweler Carl in the late 19th and Early 20th for the russian czars Alexander ii and Nicholas commissioned by the Royal family whose members exchanged these eggs As gifts at Faberge workshop produced dozens of fancy each a masterpiece of the jewellers made from Rock and enamelled and encrusted with precious the hollow eggs opened in the Middle to disclose a gift tiny jewelled scale models of miniature ships and smaller decorated eggs which opened to reveal even smaller the common Folk made their own easter eggs from humbler but in some regions the designs and workmanship were and still Are so Fine that decorated eggs achieved the status of a recognized Folk ukrainian in Are Well known for their Beautiful colors and ornate following a Complex process whereby the design is traced on the natural egg Shell with and the eggs Are dipped in various vegetable the ukrainians produce brilliantly multicoloured eggs covered with intricate geometrical known As these decorated eggs Are not cooked and Are used Only As the name comes from the slavic word to because the designs Are literally written on the egg Shell with the ukrainians also make edible easter called which Are hard boiled and dyed Only one no the name of these eggs comes the slavic word because so Many of the eggs Are dyed solid to symbolize christs it would be misleading to imply that Only the ukrainians make Lovely easter several countries Ani regions in Europe Moravia German Are also Well known Faberge and his workshop turned easter eggs into an Art form for the russian Royal for their production of decorated using age old designs and Many of which Are unique to those particular parts of the the connoisseur of Folk Art eggs can Tell at a glance whether an egg has come from Eastern or Western Northern or Central in Many parts of Maundy thursday is the traditional Day for decorating easter superstitions from Pagan times survive in the beliefs that eggs Laid on Maundy or Good or easter sunday have magical Powers to prevent to bring Good to act As an to ensure that the next baby will be a to prevent an Early to help in foretelling the in the beekeepers put a coloured easter egg under each to guarantee a Good Supply of in other easter eggs Are fed to the or buried in the to protect the animals and help produce abundant a charming custom which dates Only from the 19th Century is the making of an egg tree at Long branches of Pussy Willows or yellow forsythia Are put into a and decorated eggs Are Hung on the branches like Christmas ornaments on an Evergreen the eggs Are usually hollow the Whites and Yolks having been removed thru Shipin holes before the eggs Are brightly painted wooden eggs Are also anyone who has spent least Raster in Germany where egg Trees appear in almost every shop and hotel foyer knows that colled Trig decorated Ujj Gas for ones own egg tree can become As much an obsession As acquiring hand Jiahe Christmas i have even found that of tightly it Early decorated eggs can do at easter us fun hanging from the branches of my tree this easter and greatly tempting the cats Are multicoloured eggs from covered with intricate Geometric shapes slovakian and Bohemian eggs that were dyed a solid then scratched or etched to produce White Floral designs on the shells White and natural Brown hungarian gaily painted with Bright Flowers wooden eggs from a decorated hollow tin egg from Switzerland chinese eggs with delicately painted and tigers and a Oneo faking blown Glass egg fashioned in Art Nouveau with and Orange Pearle scent colors that glow in the in storage in Texas is my own favorite handmade egg painted on the Shell is an armadillo trundling off through the cacti into a desert following Are instructions for making two very unusual kinds of decorated eggs for marbled eggs Are hard boiled eggs whose shells Are cracked but not removed before they Are the colors natural edible dyes Only seep in through the cracked shells to produce a marbled design on the surface of the cooked egg the eggs Are then peeled before the most Well known Type of marbled egg is the Oriental Tea whose Brown marbled is produced by steeping cracked hard boiled eggs in a mixture of Black soy and other colors Are also using natural dyes made from red and the second set of instructions is for using common Kitchen ingredients onion skins the shells of hard boiled for displaying in your easter or hiding for the children to the colors produced Are Beautiful Earth with designs made from dental and onion skins just the sort of eggs might be delivered by an Artsy crafts Rabbit wearing jogging March 1985