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JOURNAL PHOTOS BY WALT UNKS/GRAPHIC BY CASSANDRA SHERRILL HAVE AN EASTER Sources: “American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An Encyclopedia of American Folklore,” edited by Christopher R. Fee and Jefrey B. Webb; History.com; ChristianityToday.com; MarthaStewart.com; Mom.me; instructables.com Dye while the eggs are slightly warm. Cold eggs or water will make the polish seize up and be gloppy on the egg. If you want eggs that are safe to eat after dying, use whipped cream instead of shaving foam. Create a drying rack by sticking pins about ¾ inch apart into a piece of styrofoam large enough to hold multiple eggs. WHY DO WE DYE EGGS FOR EASTER? l Although Easter is a religious holiday, some of its traditions likely sprang from pagan roots. The name “Easter” comes from Eostre, a pagan fertility god- dess. Eggs are a symbol of the rebirth of nature in the spring and became associ- ated with the resurrection of Jesus and his emergence from the tomb. Some an- cient cultures believed that the world was hatched from a giant egg. l Americans decorate up to 180 million eggs each year. Decorating eggs dates back to at least the 13th century, though there are many dif- ferent legends and theories about how the tradition arose. One theory says that because eggs were forbid- den during Lent, they were boiled to last longer, deco- rated to mark the end of the fasting, then eaten on Easter in celebration. l In one Ukrainian leg- end, each drop of Jesus’s blood that fell while he was on the cross became a red egg. A Romanian legend says that his blood fell on eggs carried by his mother, Mary, staining them red. Followers of many Chris- tian sects dye eggs red to signify Jesus’s blood. l Household records of King Edward I of Eng- land indicate that he gave out more than 400 boiled eggs covered in gold leaf on Easter in 1290. In medieval Europe, some people paid their clergy and landlords with “egg tithes” that came due on Easter. FUN AND GAMES l Today’s popular egg hunts for children aren’t a new activity. German theologian Martin Luther, the father of the Protes- tant Reformation, held egg hunts in the 1500s in which men hid eggs for women and children to find. l According to Guinness World Records, the largest Easter egg hunt took place on April 1, 2007, at Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in Winter Haven, Fla. During that hunt, 9,753 children searched for 501,000 eggs. l The tradition of the Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn began in 1878 during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes. l Members of the Greek Orthodox Church tradition- ally play a game in which they rap red eggs against other players’ eggs; the player with the last un- cracked egg is the winner. EGGS-TRAVAGANZA Fill a plastic cup about a quarter full of dried beans. Add 7 to 10 drops of food coloring. Fill a plastic cup about halfway with warm water. Drizzle nail polish on the water’s surface. Put a shallow layer of shaving foam (not gel) in a pan. Smooth. Dot the surface with dye. Place egg on a drying rack. You can leave it one color or speckle it with a second color. Dip an egg halfway into the water. Work quickly, because the polish can congeal. Roll the egg through the shaving cream until it is completely covered. Shake an egg in the cup until it is speckled all over. If the dye dries out, add a few drops. Use a stirring stick to swirl the polish colors together. Swirl the colors together. You can add a third color of dye if you like. Add an already speckled egg to the cup and shake until it is speckled to your liking. Add polish to the water as before and dip the other half of the egg. Let dry fully. Do not eat! Wipe off the shaving cream fully with a paper towel. Shake the cup until the dye is distributed. The more dye, the more color the egg will have. Drizzle a second color on top of the first. (Or you can use only one color; blue works well.) Dot with a second color dye. It works best if the dots are random. After the egg dries, add a second color dye to a different cup of beans and shake to coat. Dry the half-decorated egg on the rack until the polish is fully set. Place the coated egg in a dye-resistant or disposable pan for at least 10 minutes. B ored with decorating your Easter eggs with the usual dip in water colored with food dye or store-bought dye pellets? Try one of these three nontraditional methods to give your basket of eggs a little extra pizzazz. The dried-bean method is particularly easy, quick and great for doing with children. Online To see a video of how to deco- rate a speckled egg with dried beans, go to journalnow.com TIP TIP TIP WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Some Slavic cultures paint empty egg shells with elaborate designs. These are called pysanky, which means “to design.” WHAT DO YOU NEED? Hard-boiled eggs l Food dye l Shaving foam l Shallow glass or aluminum pan l Plastic gloves l Drying pan MARBLED EGGS WHAT DO YOU NEED? Hard-boiled eggs l Food dye l Plastic or paper cups l Dried beans l Plastic gloves l Drying rack SPECKLED EGGS SWIRLED EGGS WHAT DO YOU NEED? Hard-boiled eggs l Nail polish l Plastic or paper cups l Stirring stick l Dipper l Plastic gloves l Drying rack 1 1 1 4 4 4 2 2 2 5 5 5 3 3 3 6 6 6
