With the arrival of spring comes the anticipation of the Easter season. Pastel colors become more prevalent, the weather warms up and trees and flowers begin to bud. Family celebrations, both religious and traditional, where children are involved, begin to take shape.
Our children grew up on the stories and customs shared by my husband's parents. Born in Europe, they brought with them a world of wonderful customs that our children looked forward to each holiday and on special occasions. Holiday times were more special in my in-law’s childhood because it broke the rigorous farm work routine and gave the children something special to look forward.
"We were happy and excited over receiving even the smallest treat or presents at holiday times,” grandma related. There were no packaged dyes back then with glitter, decals, and tie-dye colors. So her family colored eggs the "natural way", with ingredients on hand. This was one of the traditions introduced to our children when our first-born was about five. By this age a child can help prepare the ingredients and fully participate in the process grandma was passing on from her childhood.
There are no exact measurements to give for dying eggs the natural way. We just experimented to see what shades of color we liked best.
First, cook your hard boiled eggs the way you normally do. As the eggs are boiling, in some cases, the ingredients are added in with the water. Therefore you may want to cook your eggs in smaller amounts for separate colors.
Onion skins are used for one of the colors. Remove the outside, brown skins from a three pound bag of onions. Use all the skins for the coloring process. Put enough water in the pot to cover the eggs, and then add the skins, which will leave your eggs color ranging from dark tan to yellow-beige.
Celery or carrot top greenery produces pale yellow eggs, when placed with the amount of eggs you are cooking.
Lavender eggs can be made by soaking hard-boiled eggs in a cup of crushed, fresh purple grapes or grape juice.
Blue eggs are made by gently rolling the hard cooked eggs in a bowl of mashed blueberries. Grandma used "fresh blueberries from the farm", but we used a small bag of frozen ones for our coloring. For a deeper blue, let the eggs sit longer in the crushed blueberry mixture. After coloring, you can rinse the blueberry mixture and use to add to pancake batter.
We created a color of our own using fresh cranberries. Crush the cranberries in a small bowl and place two eggs at a time in the mixture, letting them sit for twenty minutes. The eggs will turn a pretty light pink.
When the dying is finished place the colored eggs in a natural, straw, woven basket filled with "bunny grass". If Easter falls later in the year we often try to use real garden grass.
When I think about it, this family custom has really found its place in our time now. Instead of being "old fashioned", grandma's customs have actually become "trendy". With everything "getting back to nature and away from chemicals", we are perhaps even ahead of our time, proving everything does go full cycle.
While on the same topic of using natural ingredients, here is an idea to create your own play dough.
This is an easy recipe my daughter makes for her children.
Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar, 3 tablespoons ginger and 2 tablespoons each of cinnamon and nutmeg, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1.5 cups boiling water.
Directions:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a pan or bowl.
Add in the vegetable oil and boiling water, then mix. Allow some cooling time, as it will be hot to touch.
Knead on the counter or board until mixture is soft and not sticking to your fingers, bowl, work surface, etc. You may need to add some extra flour.
When done, let the children play with it the same way as store-bought play dough.
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