Handmade: Traditional German Egg Decorating

I mentioned we usually attend a regional Easter egg market in a little village nearby. The women in this area have been practicing this for well over a century. It's evolved from more traditional to more modern techniques. There was also a display feature this year on traditional dress. Keep in mind this is done in a small village, not the MFA, so the displays are simple, yet still captivating.

Here are some of the traditional scarves that are worn has a kind of half scarf, half shawl, and typically tucked into the apron. I love the little girl's cardigan and the color of the baby's wrap.

Here are some traditional girls and boys formal attire. I love how colorful everything is! I feel like so often I think of the past in black and white, but it wasn't!

These are a eggs (some hen, some ostrich, etc) decorated with lace and cross-stitch scraps. Some cross-stitch patterns are made especially for the eggs. I really like how she really tries to work with found items - it feels like each egg has a rich history.

These are some painted eggs. Nature themes, like birds and flowers, are popular. There were also two old children's Easter books on display. Really old German, it was so hard to read!

This is one of my favorite artists. She paints eggs (and a few storage boxes) of all kinds with her stories. Some have a story that can be rolled out like a scroll and stored in the egg, others are simply small paintings depicting a scene, while others (goose eggs and larger) will show a painted spiral of a story so that as you turn the egg, you can read a rhyming story beneath it. A goose-sized story egg starts at 70 Euro, so you can imagine how expensive the ostrich eggs are! Still, we've collected a few of her hen eggs over the years, as you can see below.

Here are some of the eggs on our Easter tree. I didn't get a picture of the whole tree, but here are some of the painted bunny eggs. We only have 2, but the scenes are painted all around each egg.

These are the other eggs we have. My mother-in-law gave us the egg with the strawberries on it this year. The blue egg is typical traditional style for our region and has a saying written on it in old German. The verse is one that I love, Jeremiah 29:13, "God says, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

I do believe that is true. I hope you had a joyous Easter. We certainly did.

Rejoice for he is risen! He is risen indeed!