Germany Sorbian Easter Egg Decorating Tradition With Feathers And Wax Kept Alive

Easter eggs are on display at a Sorb market in Schleife, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south-east of Berlin, on Saturday, March 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

SCHLEIFE, Germany -- A tiny Slavic minority in Germany is keeping alive a long and intricate tradition of hand-painting Easter eggs with the help of feathers and wax.

Shortly after Christmas every year, Karin Hannusch gets to work decorating up to 600 eggs for the annual Easter market in Schleife, a center of the small Sorbian community.

Hannusch, who's been painting eggs for 26 years, says each family has its own traditional designs. She covers the eggs in melted wax and uses tiny feathers, cut into many different shapes, to decorate the fragile shells.

It's a centuries-old technique that requires great persistence – hundreds of feather strokes on each egg.

Hannusch then dips the eggs in color baths – and the wax is removed in an oven or with a hot-air pistol, leaving behind the multicolored designs.

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Comments

[Lillian Bailey]

03:14 AM on 04/04/2012

Wow those are really beautiful.

[Panselinos]

10:42 AM on 04/05/2012

and so are you..

[Susan Orlins]

11:33 PM on 04/03/2012

These are awesome. Even if you are not among the tiny Slavic minority, you can make gorgeous eggs. Check out 27 ways to dye, design and display the most fun and beautiful Easter eggs! http://bit.ly/hJabms

[French Toast]

04:26 PM on 04/03/2012

Do want.

[AIlegroTroppo]

02:46 PM on 04/03/2012

Ukrainians are also pretty good at this Easter egg painting thing.

[iluvnevaeh]

12:01 PM on 04/03/2012

its so funny how in that slideshow the woman is dressed very ttraditionally and hen they show a shot of her holding some eggs, and her nails are very high fashion...i love it!

[Michael GE]

11:43 AM on 04/03/2012

OK, now I am a bit confused and curious- and I have an open, honest question. What exactly is, from a US perspective, deemed special about this tradition?
To explain: I am German. It is a common tradition all across Germany, in particular for children, to paint (emptied) eggs in preparation of Eastern (which is why diet in that time turns to be somewhat protein-leaning ;) ). The eggs are then put to display on blooming Birch or Hazel branches. Just like baking cookies when advancing Christmas time, this can also be sort of a family sport.
So, the tradition to paint eggs itself I don't find any special. For me, the difference is that Sorbians still do it in a traditional way (with feathers and not with a brush) and ofc they are much more artistic, more detailed, than what is generally produced across the country.
But the article leaves me puzzled insofar as I can't really tell: Is it that traditional, high level of artistic focus which is "news" in the US or is it the custom itself? More simply put: Don't you/ didn't you paint eggs in the US? Don't you (uni-)color cooked eggs?

[FaceTheTruth00]

06:37 AM on 04/04/2012

In the U.S., the vast majority of Easter eggs are "decorated" by dropping them into cups with crappy dye pellets mixed with vinegar.

If you're really "artistic", perhaps you slap on some stickers.

Obviously I'm be facetious. But that's pretty much the mass-marketed "Easter egg coloring" that goes on in most American households; with some exceptions.

For your perusal:

http://www.paaseastereggs.com/products-themed.asp

[Michael GE]

01:56 AM on 04/05/2012

C'mon! You miss all the fun!

I mean, two weeks ago, we three kids (my sisters and me) met at our mother's home. That left me and my 1yo nephew (he's just not Bart-able right now) being the only males and that little coward obviously decided to side with his mother (my little sister). ... Anyways, I was forced to choose: dishes or tinker with the nieces (at least none of my sisters asked me to pass the craft of parallel parking; a craft they themselves never mastered).

So, my nieces and me had a little agreement: I do the physical/ technical part ... they do the painting.

[Michael GE]

02:02 AM on 04/05/2012

While we were at it ... I just ... innocently ... asked*lowered voiced, twink*: "Hey, are my little sisters/ your mums still not buying you stuff in the toy section, telling it's too expensive?" "Uh-huh." "And before Christmas they tell you because it's because they don't what the Christmas- child will bring, when it's your birthday because they don't know what presents you get and when it's Eastern because they don't know what the Rabbit will hide?" Uh-huh!
"But they said they bought you new brushes so we can paint the eggs, right?" "Uh-huh!" ... "You have seen that your dads shave every morning?" "Uh-huh!" "And your mums, my sisters, don't, right!?" "Uhhm...". "You see, they didn't buy you new brushes for Eastern egg painting. They save all their beard and make it into a brush all year so you can paint really, really nicely. Ofc, today they could buy a really good brush in the toy section but then they can't tell you >no!< But when you grow old, you also have to choose: Shave like your dads, and buy your children stuff in the toy store or draw out all your beard hairs and make brushes for your children."

[rfeak59288]

10:46 AM on 04/03/2012

A splendid tradition, indeed. Very intricate and painstaking. We learned it from our Ukrainian ancestors, who called it Pysanky.

[gingercat333]

10:37 AM on 04/03/2012

It is a beautiful art but what does it have to do with Easter? On the third day the rabbit rose? It should be a spring celebration like the Persian New Year clebration...minus the bunnies, which are my favorite part!

[iluvnevaeh]

12:03 PM on 04/03/2012

its just a really old tradition that alot of people all over the world celebrate...to each their own, right?

[Chris Wundrow]

12:39 PM on 04/03/2012

What the egg and baby rabbit (and other baby animals) have in common is new life. New life from the seeming death of winter. There's a reason why the church celebrates Easter this time of year. Have a wonderful Easter, however you celebrate it.

[jonny dipstick]

10:07 AM on 04/03/2012

I like the tradition of painting eggs. It looks fun and I wish I did it as a kid. I don't know about that one tradition in the video of the dude on a t thats all cut up. I don't think that's right.

[Albert Jenkin]

09:56 AM on 04/03/2012

A splendid tradition, still being carried on here in Pennsylvania by families of Slavic heritage. The examples i have collected are an important part of Easter. Even more important than chocolate bunnies and Peeps.

[RedDonnaAnn]

12:20 PM on 04/03/2012

Gasp! Nothing is more important than the Peeps!

[KIVPossum]

09:40 AM on 04/03/2012

The art is still practiced in Romania, Moldova, parts of Ukraine and probably some other eastern European areas. It is amazing to watch them work.

[onwisconsin]

12:14 PM on 04/03/2012

Exactly what I was going to post.

Very popular especially among Eastern Orthadox.

[RedDonnaAnn]

12:20 PM on 04/03/2012

I did a report on the Ukraine eggs when I was a kid. I've never forgotten the sight of them. Only a pothead would go through such trouble to paint an egg in America. haha.