The Decoration of the eggs
The most interesting traditional eggs are the decorated eggs (in Romanian they are called “oua incondeiate”). Special instruments are used for decorating them. These take the form of very thin and round sticks and are called “chisita (bijara)”, “matuf (motoc)” or “festeleu”. The “festeleu” is a sharp stick made of beech wood. At one end it has linen or cotton little pieces. The “festeleu” is soaked in melted wax. In contact with the surface of the egg, little dots will appear. The most used decorative motifs for these eggs are: the lost path (on which the souls of the dead walk toward the judgment), the cross, the fir or oak leaf. In Walachia the saw and the plough are also drawn and in Moldavia the lightning and the fork. Various plants, animals and kinds of crosses are also drawn.
According to the Romanian tradition, if on Saturday before the Easter you place an egg (on which you have drawn something every day, beginning with the middle of the Fast) on a garbage dump, you’ll see an animal (usually a dog) trying to take that egg. You shouldn’t let it take it, as it will return for it and grant you any wish you have.
In the first day of Easter, eggs are only knocked with the top. On Monday they can be knocked top to the bottom and on the next days they can be knocked any way. The first ones to knock their eggs are the parents, one to the other, then the children to the parents and then the other relatives and friends. According to the tradition, the one whose egg cracks first is weaker and he will die quicker. He must give his egg to the winner; otherwise he will eat its egg rotten on the other world.
Eggs are knocked until the third Easter day, until the “Ispas” or until the “Great Sunday” according to a certain ritual: the elderly person (usually the man) knocks the head of the egg held by another person sitting at the table, while reciting the well known formula “Christ has been reborn!” which is answered by “He truly has!”.
During the first day the egg mustn’t be turned over because that means turning your luck. Only during the next days the eggs can be knocked so as to break the egg.
The most beautiful painted eggs are emptied of their content and used as decorations, being put on a rope and then hanged near the icons or in other places.
In Romania, for Easter the eggs aren’t just painted in one color, but several, creating beautifully worked designs with geometric shapes, symbols, plants or animals. In Bucovina we can find the best examples of this craftsmanship where this custom has been turned into art.
The eggs mai be decorated in more than one color depending on each color’s meaning: red (sun, fire, love), black (eternity), yellow (light, rich harvest, youth), green (force of nature, fruitfulness, hope), blue (health, sky).
Even the geometrical model mean something: a straight vertical line – life; a straight horizontal line – death; double straight line – eternity; rectangles – knowledge, wisdom; a curly line – water, purification; spire – time, eternity; double spire – the tie between life and death.
Easter decorative eggs aren’t done anymore in bold paint (Vrancea, Putna, Suceava) with pearls (Bucovina), made of wood or clay (Neamt, Corund-Harghita). In some areas of the country boiled eggs are used, in other eggs empty on the inside. In the past natural paints were used to decorate the eggs, now chemical paints are common. The old paints were prepared using recipes passed on from generation to generation which a larger variety of colors.
The eggs are usually first painted yellow, because the other colors will look better when applied over it. Blue painted eggs are an exception.
In Banat, the first painted egg is called a „try”. In the Easter morning it’s shared between the children residing in that house.
The yellow eggs are painted with an extract of wild apple tree bark and leaves, different kinds of willow or onion leaves.
Red eggs are colored with a paint obtained from red alder tree bark, cinnamon, oregano or amber.
The paint for the green eggs, also called “verdete” (in Romanian “verde” means “green”) is obtained from pasque flower, sunflower seeds or nettles.
The blue eggs, also called “albastrele” (in Romanian “albastru” means “blue”) are painted with an extract of sunflower, pasque flower and woods. These are boiled in borsch, in which bluestone had been put. These eggs are not first painted yellow, like the others, being directly obtained from white, unpainted eggs.
The black eggs are also called “negrele” or “negrete” (in Romanian “negru” means “black”) and remind of the Jesus’ sufferings on the cross. The paint is obtained from woods, black alder and nut tree bark. These eggs are obtained from eggs first painted yellow and then red.
The paint used for the green eggs is made from colchicum, sun flower seeds or stinging nettle.
The blue eggs are made from sun flower, chip or pasque flower but these are not boiled in water instead they are boiled in tomato sauce. Theses eggs are not first colored in yellow like the others but are obtained directly from white eggs.