Happy Easter! Many cultures decorate eggs, a symbol of fertility rooted in folk art traditions shared with embroidery. Patterns date back to pre-Christian times. Here are a few images to inspire you to decorate eggs this weekend or start an embroidery project with a pattern you see below.

UKRAINE

Ukrainian pysanky: The eggs in the second image below were made with the batik wax method using a kistka tool. The origin of the word pysanka is pysaty, to write.

ROMANIA

From the Bukovina region of Romania which borders Ukraine: a video about master egg painter Elena Craciunescu. At one time she would paint up to 700 eggs a year!
Video by Titus-Armand Napirlica with production company Jungles in Paris.

HUNGARY

Red eggs from Hungary.

Eggs by Noé Kornélia via http://www.magyarvagyok.hu/

Here are some diagrams of the symbolism in the Hungarian patterns. The Koz, Szatamár reminds me of similar ram’s horns design in írásos (Hungarian Written Embroidery that I teach).