It is a tradition at Easter in the Czech Republic to dye eggs for decoration and also to give away to the men and boys who come to the Easter koleda. Here is a quick tutorial on one of the traditional ways for dying Easter eggs.
Supplies:
You probably have all the things at home already:
- eggs
- onion skin
- bandage/gauze
- thread
- small plants – flowers, grass, leaves…
- vinegar
- a little oil
- paper napkin
You’ll also need a cooking pot, rather a bigger one so that you can put as much onion skin in it as possible (I use a 5 liter pot and try to fill it as much as I can). Also it should be a pot which you don’t mind getting brown on the inside. Although I used white eggs for this tutorial, I recommend you to use rather the brown ones, the color will catch on better and the eggs will be generally more beautiful in color.
How to Dye the Easter Eggs
Put the onion skin in the pot and pour water on them so that there’s enough water for the eggs to be completely cover during a 30 minute boil or longer. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar for each liter of water. Bring the water to boil meanwhile you prepare the eggs.
Take two stripes of bandage and lay them down in a cross. They need to be long enough to cover the egg and so you can bind their ends with a thread.
Place a plant where the two stripes cross.
Place an egg on the plant.
Wrap the egg.
Secure the ends of the bandage with a thread.
Place the wrapped eggs in boiling water and boil for half an hour or more. The more onion skin and the longer the boiling time, the fuller the resulting color. Leave the eggs in the water until the water cools down, then take the eggs out, unwrap and let dry. Put a few drops of oil onto the napkin and polish the eggs. You can use the eggs as a centerpiece for your table or give them away on Easter Monday during the traditional Czech mrskut.
