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.

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).

POLAND

Pisanki made with wax.

Tradition of scratching the design with a stylus from the historical region of Silesia, called drapanki.

Eggs with cut paper decorations, nalepianki.