Coloring Easter Eggs – Old School Edition

Facebook memories has been very helpful by providing me writing prompts and today was no exception. The post that caught my attention today came from when we were consistently attending the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. I grew up attending Catholic schools and am very familiar with practices of that church so transitioning to an Orthodox church wasn’t that radically different. Father Dino is an amazing person and does a great job engage with his parish.

During lent a few years ago we were enjoying coffee and snacks after the service catching up with other members. One member I enjoyed speaking to was an elderly Greek lady name Ismena. She was always a fountain of information and knew a great deal about the customs of the church. As an outsider not raised in the Orthodox faith I was always curious about the many layers of tradition. My wife, Orthodox since birth, was raised in Romania and helped with some but was unsure on others that were specific to Greek Orthodox.

Ismena explained to me how when she was younger they would die Easter eggs naturally using pigmentation from planets and wrapping flowers, leaves and other items around them to give designs. Fascinated I took notes and planned to try it at home with the kids. Always up for adventure my little ones faithfully collected a cross section of material from the yard and we picked up the necessary items from the grocery store.

Instructions

1. Collect small flowers, leaves and other items to help leave impressions. (Kids are great for this part)

2. Dampen the raw eggs and arrange the items on the eggs.

3. Place the eggs in nylons and tie them so that they are stretched tight enough to keep the leaves/flowers in place.

4. Place the eggs in a 2 quart pot and cover with cut/peeled red onion and red cabbage skins.

5. Add 1/4 cup vinegar and cold water to cover contents.

6. Bring to a boil and reduce to medium heat. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

7. Remove from heat and let cool down. (I placed mine in the refrigerator for a few hours to help the color set.)

8. Cut off the nylons and peel the flowers/leaves off.

9. Dry the egg then rub just a little vegetable oil on to give them a nice shine.

I'd say they turned out well

The food coloring was used for color variety on other eggs but no artificial dye was used on the eggs in these pictures

Dampening the eggs made the leaves stick pretty easily

Bonus, it smelled great!

Just about done

Look at those smiles!

Dave's going to kill me

4/14/2021