Decorating Easter Eggs the Old-Fashioned Way

When I was a child, my brothers and I would gather around the kitchen table to create the traditional "Easter Eggs." Unlike the commercial preparations used for dyeing today's eggs, ours were done with food dye, vinegar, water and a simple white crayon. We didn't have decorative egg wrappers or miniature Easter stickers back then, but we did have creativity. Our eggs were original works of art. They were one of a kind.
As I was paging through books that explore the customs and traditions of our cultures, I came across some conventional methods for decorating Easter eggs. I must confess that, in the past, those irresistible PAAS Easter kits have, on occasion, found their way onto my kitchen table, but not this year. My children and I instead have decided it would be fun decorating this year's eggs "the old-fashioned way." For those of you wishing to do the same, below you will find directions for making Batik-etched Eggs.
But first, some Easter egg trivia.

Did you know that the tradition of coloring Easter eggs may have gotten its start from a legend that began on Good Friday? According to my grandmother, the legend explains how Simon of Cyrene, an egg merchant, put down his basket of produce to help Christ carry the crucifix on the way to Calvary. Later, when he returned for his basket of produce, he found all of the eggs miraculously colored!1

Persians first began using colored eggs to celebrate spring in 3000 B.C. On the first day of spring, they would give each other an egg dyed red.2

If you lay all of the PAAS kits sold each year end-to-end, they would reach from Miami, Florida, to Chicago, Illinois. That's nearly 1,400 miles!3

Laying eggs is hard work! In fact, it takes 24-26 hours to complete the process, according to research from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Even the best brood hens cannot lay more than one egg a day.4

Batik-Etched Eggs

Ingredients:
12 hard-boiled eggs
food color
boiling water
vinegar
baking soda
cold water
white crayon

Directions:
Prepare several shades of dye by adding about 20 drops of the food dye to ½ cup boiling water. To each shade prepared, add 1 tsp vinegar. Dip hard-boiled eggs into vinegar and boiling water solution until you have achieved desired color. Remove egg from vinegar and water solution and let dry.
After eggs are dry, using the white crayon, decorate the egg. You can write names, draw shapes or designs --- simply put, let your imagination run wild.

When you've completed drawing with the crayon, dip the egg for 4 minutes into a solution made from mixing 1 tsp baking soda with 1 cup cold water. Remove the egg. Using a paper towel, gently rub off the crayon markings, revealing your Batik-Etched Egg. Repeat the process for remaining eggs, using a new baking soda and cold water solution for each egg.

Happy Easter!

References:

1Easter Eggs, retrieved from the internet on 29 March, 2009, 11:45 a.m.
http://www.fullhomelydivinity.org/eggs.htm

2Easter Egg Decorating Tips, PAAS Easter Egg Dye, retrieved on 29 March 2009, 11:37 a.m.
http://www.paaseastereggs.com/easter_egg_tips.htm

3Easter Egg Decorating Tips, PAAS Easter Egg Dye, retrieved on 29 March 2009, 11:37 a.m.
http://www.paaseastereggs.com/easter_egg_tips.htm

4Easter Egg Decorating Tips, PAAS Easter Egg Dye, retrieved on 29 March 2009, 11:37 a.m.
http://www.paaseastereggs.com/easter_egg_tips.htm