My (late) Easter Egg Post

Soooo yes, I'm a little late.  Only one hour EST.  Not too bad...

Anyway!  Etsy.  Yes, Etsy.  I love Etsy (even though I've never bought anything from it); MANY people love Etsy (and they probably have bought things from it).  For those who do not know what exactly it is, Etsy is essentially the more creative cousin of Ebay (if you don't know what that is, sans auctioning.  If you don't know what Ebay is, Google it.  Etsy is a global market for people to sell goods that they have created, collected, etc.  It's fair to say that it's a bit more slanted to the Wes Anderson movie subculture...but that isn't necessarily a bad thing (sometimes...)!

Etsy, in their cute, crafty, Royal Tenenbaums-esque glory have posted two blogs that showed different ways of decorating Easter eggs.  And since I LOVE decorated eggs, I had to share pretty much them all.  Even if Easter is officially over.  Whatever.  Save these ideas for next year.  Or tomorrow.

From the website Orange Kitty Crafts:

Pointillism (never even HEARD of that!) and Origami Decoupage Easter eggs (and how to do them!)

LOVE the simplicity of them!

Next, we have even more Easter egg suggestions from the blog, Papersnitch:

Decoupage eggs

Neon dip eggs

Leaf print eggs

Polka dot Easter eggs

So many great ideas, why wait for Easter?

The (Other) Easter Egg

Easter is right around the corner, and a post about Easter eggs would be most fitting....but this isn't about those types of Easter eggs.  I'm talking about those awesome intentional hidden messages or images found in everything from movies, games, software, music, websites, books, art, and crosswords.  It easily parallels the idea of the Easter egg hunt, as well as the hidden surprises found in the famous Faberge eggs.

Here are some examples of well known Easter eggs:

Microsoft Word 97

1. Open a new document 

2. Type "Blue" 

3. Select word 

4. Go to Format -> Font 

5. Choose Font Style Bold, Color Blue 

6. Type " " (space) after word "Blue" 

7. Go to Help -> About 

8. Ctrl-Shift-Left click the Word icon/banner 

9. Use Z for left flipper, M for right flipper, and ESC to exit 

10. Discover what Microsoft means by "Productivity Application"

from http://www.eeggs.com/

That awful fourth Indiana Jones movie poster...look carefully at the space between the skull's eyes

An alien?!  Was it perhaps the poster artists trying to warn us away from seeing an Indiana Jones movie with ALIENS??  I think maybe...

One of the coolest Easter eggs of them all...from the iconic Silence of the Lambs movie, look closely at that moth...

Just some pretty markings on its back, right?  
WRONG!!

Phillippe Halsman's photograph of Salvador Dali and some naked ladies.  MIND BLOWN.  

taken from www.cracked.com

Leonardo Da Vinci's secret music score in The Last Supper

Notes!

Don't believe me?

Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearances in all of his movies

If Indiana Jones looked for eggs...

...he'd find pysanky.  Pysanky, the traditional Ukrainian Easter egg, is by no means a new tradition based in Christianity.  Try more like 6000BC and the Trypilljan culture.  While obviously it is impossible to find examples of actual egg pysanky, numerous ceramic relics have been found dating back to about 1300 BC. 

Each symbol, color, line, plant, and animal motif has specific meaning and purpose.  When you think about current day Easter egg packs, and the bunnies, chicks, flowers, and color pots, it all starts to slowly make sense.  Of course, these things are incredibly badass looking versus just being purple with some squiggle lines. 

This site has an amazing breakdown of each symbolic meaning found on a pysanky.  From suns to moons to crosses to horses to the color brown...the next time you look at an extravagantly decorated Ukrainian Easter egg, try to decipher what exactly the artist was saying. 

What Do Bunnies and Eggs have to do with Crosses and Zombies?

 

I grew up celebrating the commercial aspect of Easter: baskets, candy, chocolate-shaped bunnies, egg dying, and egg hunts.  I also grew up going to an Episcopal school and was taught the Christian story behind Easter.  I never really questioned the existence of the Easter Bunny at the mall to the torture, death, and zombifying of the Biblical version of Easter until recently.   

Here's what I found (taken from Discovery News writer, Lauren Effron) : 

"According to University of Florida's Center for Children's Literature and Culture, the origin of the celebration -- and the Easter bunny -- can be traced back to 13th century, pre-Christian Germany, when people worshiped several gods and goddesses. The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal’s high reproduction rate.

Spring also symbolized new life and rebirth; eggs were an ancient symbol of fertility. According to History.com, Easter eggs represent Jesus' resurrection. However, this association came much later when Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion in Germany in the 15th century and merged with already ingrained pagan beliefs.

The first Easter bunny legend was documented in the 1500s. By 1680, the first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published. These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country, according to the Center for Children's Literature and Culture. 

The tradition of making nests for the rabbit to lay its eggs in soon followed. Eventually, nests became decorated baskets and colorful eggs were swapped for candy, treats and other small gifts."

 
And now you know!  (And knowing is half of the battle.)

Screw dying...

as in Easter egg dying. 

Forostyuk Inna, a Ukranian artist, did these mind blowing cross-stitches instead.  No idea how, but if you scroll down to the comment section, there are some decent "maybe" suggestions. 

Another egg artist is retired Slovenian electrician, Franc Grom, who painstakingly pokes as many as 17,000 holes into goose eggs using an electrical drill to replicate traditional Slovenian designs.  Holey awesome! (haaaaaaa.....)

Seriously, amazing stuff.