SCHLEIFE, GERMANY: Anke Hanusch specifically dots her needle on a yellow-dyed Easter chicken in her hand by dipping it into dark blue foam. As the beehive structure develops, wax to ovum, egg to wax alternately.
The complex symbol signifies that the egg will eventually get a gift from a godparent to their godchild in order to offer diligence and a great work ethic on the child.
The Slavic-speaking Sorbian ethnic majority in Germany has a tradition that celebrates Easter eggs. The modern-day Sorbs were brought to Germany by Slavic tribes in Central and Eastern Europe about 1,500 years earlier.
Germany’s split between the federal state of Saxony and Brandenburg now has around 60, 000 Sorbs.
Easter is the most significant holiday of the year, according to Stephanie Bierholdt, an employee at the Sorbian Cultural Center in Schleife, a town where people go to visit with their loved ones. Schleife is just 16 kilometers ( 10 miles ) from the Polish border.
The best thing about this history is that it also lives in families, she said.
Two weeks prior to the trip, Bierholdt, Hanusch, and various members of Schleife’s Sorbian society gathered at the historical center on April 6 to honor their heritage with Easter eggs and traditional folk costumes, music, and dance. Dating back to the Middle Ages, the ornamentation of sausage eggs dates again.
Hanusch, one of the more than 30 artisans selling their Easter eggs at the historical center, wore the dark folk mask and hat of an unmarried lady ( married ladies wear green ). Her prices ranged from the least expensive decorated chicken egg to the most expensive painted emu egg, costing 7 euros ( 7.72 ) up to 90 euros ($ 99.28 ).
Depending on the methods employed, the motif used, and the egg size, the decorating does take between 90 and six hours. The designs are drawn by the artists using a knife or the edge of a goose feather pen, which are both cut in various ways.
The yolk workers claimed that their rituals have not yet been impacted by the global bird flu outbreak and subsequent egg shortages and price increases, but that it is always preferable to purchase them from farmers more than supermarkets.
Hanusch, who is on her husband’s part Sorbian, is learning the Slavic speech. She claimed that she and another Sorbian children begin decorating Easter eggs when they first can hold a pencil. Hanusch continued to teach the skill and taught others, including her daughter, during the Easter time throughout her entire childhood.
It’s a significant cultural property that needs to be preserved, she said. It would be unfortunate if it went out of existence.
