Easter egg traditions & the history of Easter eggs
Decorating Easter eggs is a common holiday tradition in the US — one that predates the founding of our nation by centuries. In fact, decorating eggs was a non-religious tradition in many cultures before Christianity (archaeological discoveries of decorated and engraved eggs date back as far as 60,000 years in Africa, for example).
The later association between eggs and Easter may have come from people being forbidden to eat eggs during Lent, and then being allowed to eat them on Easter — or it could be simply because many birds lay eggs only in the spring.
It is believed that the earliest Christians in Mesopotamia adopted the egg coloring from Persian tradition, dyeing them red as a symbol of the blood Christ shed at his crucifixion.
As this custom spread via the Orthodox Church throughout Europe, it was officially adopted as a ritual, with the eggs serving as a symbol of Christ’s resurrection, celebrated on Easter Sunday.
The Easter egg tradition lives on!
In more recent decades, however — and more common to our childhoods, even as a purely secular rite of spring — Easter eggs are dyed and decorated for the Easter Bunny to hide overnight (next best thing to Santa Claus, right?!) after he delivers our Easter baskets.
Then we wake up and hunt for the eggs, which we may later enjoy fresh out of the shell, as snacks over the next week, or as deviled eggs during our Easter feast.
ALSO SEE: Retro Easter candy from the 70s, 80s & 90s remains some of the greatest candy of all time
And while these days, a lot of Easter egg hunts take place with plastic eggs (which may be filled with Easter candy, trinkets — or even cash!), the holiday tradition of dyeing Easter eggs still lives on. These colorful creations may not end up as part of the official hunt, but the creative springtime celebration ritual lives on.
As you prepare for your Easter celebration, check out these vintage Easter egg decorating ideas! We also have some tips for making perfect hardboiled eggs — as well as some divine deviled egg recipes from the 60s and 70s. -BB
Find some elegantly vintage Easter egg crafts and artsy inspiration right here! The ideas may be old, but they’ll probably seem new to you. How did these vintage Easter egg shrink-wrap decorating sleeves work? Find out here, and see a retro collection of Disney Easter decorations and other holiday designs! Find out how to make some sweet vintage Easter egg crafts for spring – everything from bunny-decorated eggs to lacquered lace eggshells. Here’s a sweet and pretty way to celebrate spring – with this mid-century era Easter egg tree craft! Here’s how you can make your own. Make decorated Easter cookies a part of your holiday tradition with this cute Easter egg design. Why should Christmas have all the cookie fun? Want to make natural Easter egg dyes the old-fashioned way? Find out how to use roots, berries, herbs and vegetables to color eggs for a vintage-style celebration that hearkens back to 1917. From 1988: This Easter, your kids can decorate and hunt Easter eggs with Snoopy. Bring SNOOPY, WOODSTOCK, and the fun of decorating and hunting Easter eggs home to your family. The easy-to-use PEANUTS Kit comes complete with color tablets, egg dipper, drying tray, PEANUTS stickers, award stickers, and egg display stand. You'll even find Easter Beagle paw prints to guide your children along the egg hunt trail. The PEANUTS Easter Egg Decorating and Hunt Kit — just add eggs and kids...and spring into Easter at Hallmark! From 1974: We've colored our white L'Eggs blue, pink, yellow, purple and green so you can give beautiful Easter L'eggs. Empty eggs are perfect for hiding chocolates, jelly beans, or tiny Easter presents. Don't miss these Easter egg tips from our Generation X partner site, Lilyvolt! Dye your Easter eggs with custom colors you won’t find in a kit! Below you can find some creative food color combinations for Easter egg dye recipes to bring seasonal hues to your Easter basket. If your eggs cooked in the shell have turned out to be less than ideal, here are some easy tips for how to make hard boiled eggs -- either in the Instant Pot or on the stove. And after all those Easter eggs are colored and recovered from your family Easter egg hunt, here are some deviled egg recipes to try! The deviled egg is truly an American innovation, Here are 22 different old-fashioned and divinely delicious deviled egg recipes for you to try! If your young assistants still have some egg art ideas, let them unleash their creativity on these free printable Easter egg coloring pages from Print. Color. Fun! These blank Easter egg shapes are all ready to print, color and cut out! Color them in just for fun, make them into Easter decorations, or use one or more of these Easter eggs to create a cute card.
20 elegant vintage Easter egg crafts & decorating ideas
Remember these vintage Easter egg shrink-wrap decorating sleeves to decorate eggs?
How to make some adorable vintage Easter egg crafts
Make a beautiful Easter egg tree craft with this vintage how-to
Paint decorated Easter cookies to look like colorful eggs - using this easy and clever technique (1989)
How to make natural Easter egg dyes the old-fashioned way
Vintage Peanuts Easter Egg Decorating Kit (1988)
Remember vintage L'eggs pantyhose eggs?
Here are some more fun Easter egg ideas from our sister sites!
Try some of these easy custom Easter egg dye recipes - plus colorful tips
Here’s how to make hard boiled eggs fast & easy: Using the Instant Pot or stove top methods
22 divinely delicious classic deviled egg recipes
4 sizes of blank Easter egg shapes to print and color
