The Many Faces of Easter Egg Art

I would like to share with you my most comforting Easter quote:
"Advantage #2 of Old Age Memory Loss:  You can hide your own eggs."

Some of my favorite Easter egg images are below. I hope you enjoy them over and over, as if you had never seen them before....
1.  Eggs Painted and Decorated, from the simple to the lavish
2.  Edible Eggs
3.  Works of Art composed of Easter Eggs, and
4.  The Largest Easter Eggs in the World, including the largest chocolate egg, which I truly covet

EGGS PAINTED AND DECORATED

Egg painting is an artform that is practiced by children, their parents, and artists.  Anyone can create at least one of these... from the simplest dyed eggs....

to hand-painted eggs with floral motifs.....

                                to whimsically painted eggs...

to marbled eggs...








to egg homages of favorite movie and tv show characters, like those from Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars....

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/04/02/
battlestar-galact-egg-a-
geeking-out-with-easter-decorations/

http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2009/04/10/star-wars-egg-art/

to one-of-a-kind eggs painted by talented artists, like Delia Pacheco,
 http://www.squidoo.com/one_of_a_kind_painted_easter_eggs)

to eggs fit for a golden goose....

to "grunge" eggs, nestled in a traditional basket....

Photo:  Tony Horpel

to "humpty dumpty" eggs from a store window in the resort of Sandpoint, Idaho...

to eggs with painted folk stories...

or eggs with religious motifs, such as this one from Bucharest, Romania...








Of course, you don't have to always paint Easter Eggs.

You may wrap them with ribbons....

or tie them with bows....

or embroider them.....

or knit over them...

or make them from felt...

or fabric....

or decorate them with wire....

or wrap them in string....

or carve them in intricate designs....

You may wish to bead them....

Or, if you are Peter Carl Faberge, the jeweler to the Tsar of Russia, you may wish to craft them from gold and enamel, and include an Easter surprise inside...

EDIBLE EASTER EGGS  Your favorite eggs, however, may be the edible eggs.....

like chocolate eggs...

or jelly bean eggs....

or sugar eggs....

or cookie eggs....

or cereal eggs...

or egg cakes...

LARGE WORKS OF EASTER EGG ART  Of course, individual eggs can be put together to create wonderful works of art.

Detail

Absolutely wondrous is this portrait of the Virgin Mary created by Ukranian artist Oksana Mars, using 15,000 painted eggs.  Displayed in 2010 in Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, the mosaic weighed 2.5 tons and measured 7 X 7 meters.

Here is a full view of the Virgin Mary Easter Egg mosaic.  More information can be found at the following website:  http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/virgin-mary-mosaic-made-from-15000-easter-eggs.html

In Saalfeld, Germany, Voker Krafte created an Easter egg tree marvel....

                    Up close, you can see the variety of intricately-crafted eggs...

You can get more information at http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/christmas-has-a-festive-tree-so-why-not-easter.html.

THE LARGEST EGGS IN THE WORLD  The title for the largest Easter egg in existence is hotly contested.

The Canadian town of Vegreville claims that their 25.7 foot long aluminum egg is the biggest ever constructed.  It was installed in 1975 to commemorate early Ukrainian settlements near Edmonton.

The city of Suceava, Romania lays claims for the largest painted Easter egg, measuring 7.25 meters high.  It is decorated with traditional patterns of red, symbolizing the blood of Jesus; black symbolizing eternity; and yellow, symbolizing light.

Flickr, from Mia

The entrance to a museum in Koloyia, Ukraine, also lays claim as the largest Easter egg.  It is 14 meters high, and 10 meters wide.  The museum has a collection of over 10,000 Easter eggs from not only the Ukraine, but Belarus, Poland, Sweden, France, Pakistan, the US, and India, among others.  For more info, go to www.armchairtravelogue.blogspot.com

The Guinness Book of World Records claims that this chocolate egg, made in 2005 in Sint Niklaas, Belgium, is the largest ever created. Produced by the famous chocolatier Guylian, it measures 8.32 meters high.  It took 26 craftsmen 525 hours to build the egg, using 4300 pounds of chocolates.  There are about 9000 calories in a pound of chocolate.  If I ate the whole thing....which I could.... I would consume 38,700,000 calories.

Finally, breaking no record that I am aware of, here is an egg painted and planted in a square in Zabreg, Yugoslavia.  A view from one side.........

and then the other.....

The Origins and History of Easter Eggs: Dept 56 and Much More

Department 56 villages bring to life our Easter traditions.  We find churches, parishioners, Easter bunnies, Easter egg hunts, chocolate eggs, and so much more.  To appreciate these traditions more fully, I have explored various theories on the symbolism and history of eggs, particularly Easter eggs, in our western culture.  From a myriad of internet sources, I have teased out some information that strikes me as plausible, as well as interesting.

Persepolis,
National Geographic

Zoroastrians and Persepolis  The earliest indications of the use of ceremoial eggs may date from the Zoroastrians in Persia, which is modern-day Iran, in the 6th century BCE.  Sculptures of people carrying eggs can be found on the walls of Persepolis, which was an ancient Persian city about 40 miles northeaster of present-day Shiraz, Iran.  The painted eggs were for the king to celebrate Nowrooz, their New Years celebration, which fell on the spring equinox.

Dept 56, Christmas in the City,
"Central Synagogue," 56. 59204

Jewish Traditions  During the Seder meal for Passover, Jews serve a hard-boiled egg.  According to several sources, the egg symbolizes 1) the sacrifice brought by the Hebrews to the Temple in Jerusalem in biblical times, and 2) the mourning for the destruction of the Temple in both the 6th century BCE and the 1st century AD.  For these reasons, the egg also became a traditional food for those in mourning.  For more information, go to this link:  http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/passover/faq/seder-plate.html

St. Bede the Venerable

Eostre and Gregory the Great  In the 7th century, an English monk, given the name of the Venerable Bede, wrote a text called "The Reckoning of Time," (Temporum Ratione).  It was about the solar and lunar cycles, and included a chapter on "months," or times of the moon.  According to Bede, April was called Eosturmonath,  named after the goddess of fertility, Eostre. www.manygods.org.uk/articles/essays/Eostre.shtml

Pope Gregory the Great

The symbol of Eostre was said to be an egg, which was associated with fertility.  Pope Gregory the Great, who created the goal to convert the English Isles, wrote in the 6th century that pagan rituals should be adapted to the "praise of God," rather than dismissed.  It is not a stretch to believe that Irish pagan customs concerning eggs were absorbed into Christian culture, just as Christmas trees were adopted from non-Christian sources.

Dept 56, Christmas in the City,
"Cathedral of St. Nicholas," 56.59248

Christian Egg Traditions  In Orthodox traditions, eggs are frequently dyed red to represent the blood of Christ.

Icon of Mary Magdalen,
with words on the red egg,
"Christ is Risen"

This practice may be based on a legend that Mary Magdalen met with the Emperor Tiberius in Rome to tell him about Jesus and the Resurrection, offering him an egg as a symbol of this event.  Scornfully Tiberius  protested that a man could no more rise from the dead than that egg could turn scarlet.  As he said it, legend says that the egg turned red in Mary Magdalen's hands.  Frequently, images of her will include a red egg.

Dept 56, Snow Village,
"Happy Easter Church," 56.55325

For Western Christians, the egg symbolizes a complex of simple, but very profound ideas, probably adopted from many religions and cultures:  potential; rebirth; hope; resurrection;  renewal; metamorphosis from one life to another; rejuvenation.  Another author adds a further level of symbolism:  "...the egg represents the Creation, the elements, and the world itself, with the shell representing the firmament, the vault of the sky where the fiery stars lie; the thin membrane symbolizing air; the white symbolizing the waters; and the yolk representing the earth."   http://www.fisheaters.com/symbols.html

In my next blog I will take you on a tour of Easter eggs, painted, sculpted, wired and embroidered!

Department 56: Evoking Easter Memories

Easter is delightful, and Department 56 has found a way to bring back joyful memories of traditions played out during every spring of my childhood.

Dept 56, Snow Village,
"Easter Egg Painting Studio," 56.55385

Dyeing Easter Eggs  This delightful pastel building is obviously a master rabbit's dyeing studio and school.  Admission standards to the Egg Painting Studio are high, resulting in an immensely qualified and creative student body.  Peter Cottonfur and other students study the art of egg preparation, pigment production, egg decoration, drying processes, basket procurement, and egg distribution schemes.  Though the students grow weary of the daily routines, they know that becoming a certified master of egg painting will give them artistic license to create their own lines for discriminating buyers at the finest shops, Bloomingeggs, Eggcy's, Neiman Mareggs, and Sak's Fifth Eggsenue.

Depart 56, Snow Village,
"It's the Easter Bunny!" 56.55164

Easter Bunnies  While Easter Bunnies take their professions seriously, they recognize that it is seasonal employment.  They do have continuing education, mostly during the summer, including courses on public relations and product distribution techniques. In the fall, Easter bunnies embark on a severe regimen of physical training to preparing for the arduous job of hauling around millions of baskets and tons of eggs in such a short period of time.  It isn't just carrying heavy baskets, it is the constant squatting down and standing up, necessary in the egg hiding process, that wreaks havoc on bunnies' knees.  Attempts at Easter Bunny unionization have failed, given that most professional bunnies wish to maintain independence in their artistic endeavors and personal relationships with children.

Dept 56, Snow Village,
"One Hop Walk," 56.55160

Green Grass and Warm Sunshine    Easter Village Event Planners take great care in the production of the best possible traditional holiday activities, including Easter Egg Dyeing for Amateurs;  Easter Egg Hunts for Children; fashion acquisition of adorable, yet up-to-date, attire, particularly for infants and children; and other pursuits that will create lifelong memories.  However, the most difficult job for the Easter Event Planner is to ensure sunshine, green grass, and cheerful flowers.  Given web technology, it is easy to identify Easter dates far in advance, and to plant adequate acreage of seasonally-appropriate flower species.  However, the procurement of good weather is very complicated, and only journeyman level Easter Event Planners have mastered the art.

Dept 56, Dickens Village,
"A Basket Full of Blooms," 56.58583

Beautiful Flowers  Easter lilies are symbolic, elegant, fragrant, and evocative, and necessary to lifelong Easter memory-making.  The natural white shade of Easter lilies is the color standard used by Master Egg Painters in selecting perfectly "white" eggs for their best artistic pieces. Easter bunnies have long favored Easter lily foliage as a perfect natural background for pastel eggs.

Dept 56, Snow Village,
"Lily's Nursery and Gifts," 56.55095

Easter Event Planners can count on adequate supplies of Easter lilies to embellish any party venue, in part due to Lily's Nursery and Gifts, which always plans for all the lilies that Easter requires.

Dept 56, Snow Village,
"Dressed in Our Easter
Best," 56.55327

Easter Clothes  A prerequisite for any Easter event, and the making of any Easter memory, is new finery.  Stylish new clothes serve to celebrate renewal, the beginning of spring, the celebration of life.  New Easter attire has lately been ignored in favor of the practical jeans and t-shirts.  However, childhood memories can tell of us days past, when a new dress, new hat, new shoes, or new jacket made us smile. Dressed in Our Easter Best

Dept 56, Christmas in the City,
"Window Shoppers," 56.59481

In urban areas, such as CIC, elegant and festive Easter parades afford men and women the opportunity to gather, mostly to see what everyone else was wearing.  Especially anticipated are the big hats, with feathers, and flowers, and even birds perched in netting.  Children are not allowed to laugh and point at the hat birds.  Parents admonish them, with threats that the Easter Bunny will not visit.  Development of Child Manners is also a course at the Easter Egg Painting Studio.  It is taken very seriously. 

Dept 56, Snow Village,
"Happy Easter Church,'
56. 55325

Easter Morning Church  Many show off their new finery for the first time on Easter morning at church.  Easter is the best time ever at church, especially when coffee and donuts are served afterwards, and everyone is smiling.  Sometimes the Easter Bunny forms an alliance with the pastor of the church for an egg hunt post-service, but more frequently the egg hunt is at home or a local park.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Easter Egg Hunt," 56.55326

Easter Egg Hunts  The highlight of Easter for many young children is the Easter Egg Hunt.  Of course, the Easter Bunny knows this, and is careful to search out hiding places that are age-appropriate for the family.  A one-unit course at the Easter Egg Painting Studio, called "Demographics and the Egg Hiding Paradigm," is required for all certified Easter Bunnies. Quite rightly.

The hunt frequently takes place right after church, during which the children display extraordinary anticipation, and before lunch, which leaves them so hungry that they tend to indulge in "Sucrose Satiation," a malady common to children that affects not them, but their parents.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Chocolate Bunny Factory," 56.55355

Candy, Candy, Candy  Sucrose Satiation is a result of ingesting lots and lots of candy. During "hiding-of-the-eggs," HOTE,  it is critical for an Easter Bunny to disperse exact proportions of real eggs, properly painted; plastic eggs filled with gum drops and jelly beans; yellow (not pink, and certainly not blue) marshmallow Peeps; and chocolate bunnies. Easter Bunnies must never leave chocolate bunnies in sunny hiding spaces, because they will quickly form bunny baths.  While these are loved by young children, parents find them disconcerting to find bunny bath traces all over their new Easter clothes.  Easter Bunnies also find it disconcerting to find their images melted into brown puddles.