NATURAL COLORING OF EASTER EGGS

Up to end of 19th century the Easter Eggs used to be colored exclusively by natural dyes that were prepared by cooking and washing different plants and vegetables. This type of coloring was environmentally friendly and harmless to humans. Some of the colors for coloring Easter eggs can be still prepared by following methods:

YELLOW COLOR: by cooking caraway seeds, onion skins or young oats.

RED COLOR: by cooking broken up red bricks or cooking of plum tree wood.

VIOLET COLOR: by cooking red beets.

ORANGE TO BROWN COLOR: by cooking red onion skins, birch bark, walnut leaves and shells.

GREY BROWNISH SHADE COLOR: by cooking Russian tea.

GREEN COLOR: by cooking of young grass, clover leaves, spinach or green parsley.

BLACK COLOR: by cooking alder or oak bark.

BLUE COLOR: by cooking fresh or preserved bilberries.

GO TO EASTER TRADITIONS

GO TO FOLK CUSTOMS

Published in the Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 6, No. 1, Spring 1998
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 1998 
3804 Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article and photographs may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without the express written permission of Vladimir Linder. All rights reserved.