The Easter egg - a symbol of eternity

One of the most beautiful Easter traditions is painted eggs. The shells of hard-boiled eggs are dyed in colourful patterns, with a rich red the prevailing colour. There are a myriad of motifs used on painted eggs. The most popular ones are the cross, the star, the sun, the wave, the zigzags, and stylised flowers. Sometimes motifs are applied using natural leaves. Traditionally, it's the women who paint Easter eggs, and they have to do it on the Thursday before Easter. Women are not supposed to do any work on Friday. Sunday Easter morning the painted eggs are tapped together with the words "Hristos a Inviat - Adevarat a Inviat" - "Christ is Risen - He is Risen indeed." This beautiful ritual precedes the Easter breakfast. For 40 days people, especially in the countryside, greet each other with these words. Easter painted eggs with bright colours in geometrical patterns or stylized figures, animal and floral designs are traditional for Eastern Europe, from Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, to Lithuania. It started long time ago as a pagan ritual. In many parts of the world one finds ancient myths in which the Egg features as a symbol of the Sun, Spring and Revival of Nature. In Eastern Europe the tradition of painting eggs goes back thousand of years - clay eggs, once evidently painted and dating from the 13th or 12th century B.C., were unearthed by archaeologists from the Nistru River, Moldova, to Vilnius, Lithuania..