INFORMATION BULLETIN

(Reproduced from “The New Pioneer” Vol. 1, Nr. 2, February, 1943 edited by Th. Andrica)

Colorful decoration of Easter eggs is a popular custom in many parts of Romania.

Before work is begun, the boiled eggs must be washed in tepid water. Then burning charcoal is put in a big pot into which is placed a smaller pot filled with wax, preferably beeswax. In other pots or dishes, colors are dissolved by heating them over a fire or by simple stirring.

The most difficult part of these preparations is the fashioning of a stylus used for drawing the lines of the design. A thin layer of brass is rolled about a needle and thus a funnel-like point is formed. This is inserted into a holder made of a twig split at one end. The point is fastened to the holder with twine so that the stylus crosses the holder at right angles.

This stylus is dipped into the pot, containing molten wax. Occasionally two styluses are used, one with a fine point to draw thin lines, another with a blunt point for drawing heavier lines.

When everything is prepared, the process itself is started. The egg, properly washed and dried, is taken in the left hand and while holding it with the thumb, second, third, and fourth fingers, with the right hand the stylus is dipped into molten wax. The dripping wax is wiped against the first finger of the left hand, and the line is drawn starting from the “head” of the egg and proceeding towards the “tail,” turning the egg to right and left, and holding the stylus always in the same position, allowing the wax to flow out of the point upon the egg as it passes by. All the while the hands are held over the pot with the hot cinders to keep the wax in a fluid state.

After the tracing of the design is finished, the egg is placed in a dish of dye. As a rule, this is yellow. Now the process may be stopped here, after the egg has been taken out of the dye, thoroughly dried and then placed into a hot oven to remove the wax. Such an egg would have a simple design in white lines upon a yellow background. Usually, however, this decoration is considered too simple. Consequently, the process is further elaborated. After the color has been thoroughly dried, other lines are drawn with the wax, this time on the yellow background. After this design is finished, the egg is dropped into another color, which is usually red. Again the process may be broken here: the egg dried and the wax removed by baking in a hot oven. Such an egg shows white and yellow lines on a red background.

As a rule, this design is still considered too simple and the decoration is continued. Again new lines are drawn over the egg with wax, this time on the red surface of the egg which is then dipped in a black dye. If the process is stopped here, the egg will show white, yellow and red lines on a black background. The three colors, yellow, red, and black are the most common colors. In sections of Romania, however, there appears a green color. To attain such a combination of colors, the egg is dropped into sauerkraut juice which removes all the colors from the entire egg, with the exception of the designs traced in wax. Now the wax may be removed and an egg obtained showing colored lines upon a white background. As this is not an attractive decoration, the egg is usually dropped into a bright dye. In short, the process may be advanced and retraced according to the vividness of the artist’s imagination.

The ornamentation exhibited by the Romanian Easter egg is exceedingly rich. In every village which decorates Easter eggs, there are at least two score of the best known designs. Some designs are purely geometric, others reproduce church bells, crosses; still others the various objects of animal life, such as butterflies, rabbits, rabbits’ ears, sparrows’ feet,horses,cows, fish, bees, sheep, etc., or a floral object, acorn, wheat-ears, etc.

After Easter, the eggs are used for decoration of the homes. The eggs picked out for this purpose are pricked and emptied of their contents.