Magyar
DESIGN AND TECHNIQUE
The ancient geometrical designs of the hímestojás cannot be found in any other branch of Hungarian folkart. Egg decorating is a world of its own. It is the world of magical symbols on a mysterious object, which seems to attract humans for thousand of years.
The oldest designs found in Hungary are the geometrical, highly stylized symbols. Even with their local peculiarities the written (írott) eggs are hard to classify according to region.
Hungarian decorated eggs can be categorized into two groups:
1. Ancient designs – star, dot, hand, traces of animals’ body parts, archaic designs transformed into flowerlike motifs. The written eggs preserved these ancient symbols the most.
2. Designs with few or no ancient symbols – religious, national, naturalistic motifs and stylized flowers. These designs are found mainly on scratch-carved eggs.
Some typical characteristics of Hungarian eggs are:
a) The frequent use of ancient symbols.
b) The many dividing lines (into two, four, eight or sixteen parts).
c) Animal and human portrayal is completely missing; however traces of animal, or drawings of their body parts are frequent.
d) The designs are accentuated with small dots. Lines are never used, except on scratched eggs, be cause it is impossible to make little dots with a knife.
e) The positive-negative highlighting of the motifs with dots.
f) It is interesting to observe, that some decorating techniques, like straw appliqué, colored wax and pull drop (wax applied with pin heads) are not used in Hungary, although these methods reached high artistic levels in neighboring countries. The reason might be, that no deep symbolism, which was important to Hungarians, were expressed through them. They have only aesthetic values.
The designs of the scratch carved eggs are more recent and sometimes naturalistic. The men who made them didn’t follow tradition as much as the women. They also scratched figures (humans and animals), recognizable flowers and poems onto the shell. The Hungarian coat-of-arms was a favorite everywhere. It must have been the consequence of Habsburg oppression for centuries especially after the freedom-fight of 1848-49. It can also be seen on embroideries and folk costumes. Since 1920, when Hungary lost two third of its territory, the use of the coat-of-arms in Hungarian folkart became extremely popular in those places annexed to other countries. It was and is a way of protest.
While written eggs rarely showed Christian motifs, especially the cross, other religious symbols could be found, but only infrequently on scratched eggs. Naturally the ancient symbols were used.
There is a large variety of names given to the egg motifs. In 1930 Dzsida Jenő wrote down the names most frequently used by the Székely people to describe written eggs. These names are used in other parts of the country as well. Many are ancient designs with new names. Here are a few examples, written down in Hungarian with English translations in parenthesis: búzafejes (wheat head), hámos (harness), kantáros (bridle), csillagos (star), berbécsszarvas (sheep horn), gombos (buttons), fogas (rack), ujjas (fingers), ablakos (window), békanyomos (frog mark), gereblyés (rake) , pipás (pipe), németsipkás (German hat), lúdtalpas (goose foot), fenyőágas (pine branch), nyárfalapis (poplar leaf), szárnyas (wing), égő szíves (burning heart), meggyágos (sour cherry branch), pillangós (butterfly), rózsáskertes (rose garden), szekfüves (carnation), kapcsos (hook), boldogszíves (happy heart), szomorúszíves (sad heart), cseremakkos (oak acorn), táblás (field), tulipános (tulip), akáclapis (acacia leaf), virágos (flower), oldalrózsás (side rose), szíves (heart), napos (sun), rácsos (bars), cserelapis (oak-leaf), pimpós (Potentilla, a flower with 5 petals), öves-csipkés (belt-lace), öves-ágas (belt-branch), keresztes (cross), hóvirágos (snowdrop), ráklábas (crab foot), kígyós (snake), békahátas (frog back), eperleveles (strawberry leaf), kapás (hoe), ekevasas (ploughshare), tekerőleveles (winding leaf), bankafejes (hoopoe head), orsós (spindle), kisasszonycsercse (Miss’s earring), pettyes (dotted), póklábas (spider foot), sárgarigófészkes (golden oriole nest). The design of the tulip and oak-leaf are used most frequently. Taking into consideration that these motifs are interchangeable among themselves, the variety of designs is endless. It was also observed that the more romantic and magnificent the artist’s immediate surroundings were, the more beautiful were the designs on the eggs.
The designs were born from the soul of the Hun garian people, they reflect our way of thinking and are the heritage of the whole nation.
COLORING
Hungarian eggs are monochromatic most of the time. The design shows the color of the eggshell. Few regions used two or more colors. The Székely (in Transylvania) used two or three colors. Really colorful wax resist eggs are made in Sárköz, (Transdanubia), but only since chemical dyes are available. The rest of the country continues to decorate eggs using the traditional monochromatic color scheme.
The color mostly used was and is RED!
Until the end of the last century only natural dyes were used. The colors were furnished by the most perfect master: nature itself. The flower, skin, bark or root of the plants were boiled with alum, for the dyes. Most of the time they were of medicinal value and therefore not harmful. Not all the plants grew at the same location, therefore they were objects of trade. Some examples of the plants which can be used for egg coloring are:
Yellow: the skin, bud and leaves of wild apple, leaves of onion, saffron, wind-flower/anemone, skin of green walnut.
Orange: root of spurge
Green: hemlock, mallow boiled in alcohol, leaves or buds of birch tree
Blue: lentil, ox-eye daisy
Red: mallow (Althaea rosea) boiled in water,
Purple: flower of poplar
Reddish brown: onion skin
Brown: skin of wild pears and apples mixed, onion skin,
Black: ripe crop of elder, buds and bark of alder tree with addition of copper sulphate.
(Only those plants are mentioned, where an English translation could be found.)
The natural dye derived from onion skins is still very popular all over the country and preferred over the bright store bought ones.
The really colorful eggs are those painted with brush. They look like the beautiful Hungarian embroideries and furniture paintings, and are an integral part of Magyar folkart.
PREPARATION OF EGGS
The eggs should be carefully chosen. It is advisable to collect them during the whole year. The shells should be smooth and strong, (week spots can be detected when the shell shows dark spots). For scratch carving the thicker shells of small hen eggs or goose eggs are preferred.
Today most eggs are blown out, which on one hand discards the magical contents, on the other hand it gives the egg eternal life, because there is no rotting process, no gases are formed, which spoiled the egg frequently. They had to be thrown out. Collectors prefer these kind. In order to empty an egg, a hole has to be made on each end and the contents blown out with a little pump or an ear syringe. It is important to wash out the eggs thoroughly with vinegar and water. Every collector is aware of the so called museum worm, which seems to appear from nowhere, but can cause some unwanted damage.
Eggs should not be scrubbed or washed with detergent. The natural protective layer of the egg will be damaged.
If boiled eggs are used, they should be cooked up to one hour. This cooking time decreases the possibility of rotting. When done they should be put in cold water immediately. This helps the drying out process: the egg won’t tilt to one side. In a few years the inside will dry rock hard and look like amber. In some regions of Hungary they used it as a stone for a ring.
METHODS OF EGG DECORATING:
1. Scratch-carving (vakart, kotort, karcolt tojás)
a/ The eggs should be hard boiled or blown out.
b/ The eggs have to be dyed with natural or chemical dyes, preferable a dark shade.
c/ To scratch-carve the design onto the shell a sharp tool is needed: razor, knife, metal scriber, exacto knife, needle, even a piece of glass will do.
d/ Usually designs are done free hand, but they may be drawn lightly onto the shell.
e/ Geometrical and free flowing motifs are used, often looking like lace.
f/ Scratch-carved eggs were done by men, especially shepherds, who had the patience, time, and strength. They were given as gifts of love.
2. Batik, wax resist – written eggs (írott hímestojás)
a/ Clean, white, raw or boiled eggs of room temperature are used.
b/ With a stylus/scriber (íróka, gica, író-kica) the design is written onto the egg with melted beeswax.
c/ The white written egg is placed into the color bath until the desired shade is obtained.
d/ In case of a multicolored egg, this procedure is repeated, starting with the lighter colors and mov ing to the darker ones. The desired designs of a particular color have to be covered with wax.
e/ After all the writing and dying is done, the wax is melted with a candle’s flame, and removed with tissue paper.
f/ The finished egg may be varnished and if raw, blown out.
This is the most widespread method of egg decorating and almost exclusively done by women, a tradition passed on from mother to daughter for centuries.
3. Engraving (metszett hímes)
The engraved egg is an interesting version of the written egg. This old method was nearly forgotten and rediscovered in recent years. Hortobágyi György, a noble man from Hunyad county (Transylvania) wrote the following “recipe” in his diary/accounting book around 1740 (Györgyi 1982):
“At Easter, if you want that the egg remain, as if the flowers had been engraved on its shell, do as follows: as customary draw with wax onto egg, then put it in vinegar or sauerkraut fluid for four hours. After that wash off the wax and the white will show like engraving and stay that way.”
Nothing is said about the color of the egg. It can be dyed first and then be written with melted wax, but it is much easier and more interesting results can be obtained by using brown eggs. The eggs have an intriguing effect.
4. Etching (maratott hímes)
a/ The eggs are dyed with onion skin or com m er cial dye.
b/ A wooden instrument or the tip of a feather is dipped in vinegar or hydrochloric acid and the design is drawn or written onto the egg. The design is made by etching or removing the dye, leaving the white area of the egg showing.
c/ During the process, small bubbles will appear, which should be wiped off gently with a tissue.
d/ Great care should be used, because the acid can be harmful. Children should not use this technique.
This method is not very common in Hungary. It is used in Kalocsa and some parts of Transdanubia.
5. Plant appliqué (berzselt hímes)
a/ Small nicely formed plants, leaves, flower petals must be collected.
b/ They have to be glued to the eggshell with eggwhite. Water can also be used.
c/ The egg is placed into a 6 – 8″ gauze material or a nylon stocking, tied at both ends to secure the leaves, and put into the color bath. Instead of cloth the plants can also be tied to the egg with embroidery yarn. The result will be different.
d/ Preferably natural dyes should be used, most commonly onion skin.
e/ It should be boiled, using low heat, up to one hour, depending on preferred shade. The eggs should be cooled in the color bath.
f/ After removing fabric and plants a nice shine can be reached with a piece of bacon rind (or varnish) and a soft cloth
6. Paper appliqué (papír rátétes hímes)
a/ A piece of paper should be folded in four and any design can be cut out, even traditional ones.
b/ The paper should be soaked in water to be softened, before attaching it to the egg.
c/ The appliqué is secured to the egg with gauze or a piece of nylon stocking and treated the same way as the plant appliqué egg.
7. Metal appliqué (vasalt, patkolt tojás)
Miniature metal ornaments are applied to eggs: metal hangers, tools, but most frequently little horse shoes and spurs made of lead or wrought iron were fitted to the empty egg shell with pins or small nails of lead. These small nails are also made precisely for this purpose by the artist. Sometimes the goose or hen egg shells are filled with sand.
Magyars have always been famed for horseman ship, so it is interesting that even eggs are equipped for riding. The metal appliqué eggs are done by men, mostly skilled machinists and black-smiths, who want to show off their mastery of the trade through such delicate work. Metal appliqué seems to be a unique Hungarian form of egg decorating.
8. Brush paint (pingált tojás)
Since the turn of the century a great variety of paints (oil, enamel, watercolor, acrylic) can be bought in stores. This made it possible to paint the motifs with a brush onto the egg. Through this method the designs became naturalistic and very colorful. It seemed to be the beginning of the end of the folkart egg. But Hungarians love their designs. It is true, that the eggs painted with brush didn’t show the ancient egg designs anymore, but instead they looked like the beautiful
Hungarian embroideries of Mezőkövesd and Palóc region, the wall paintings (pingálás) in Kalocsa, the furniture painting of Mera or the painted shutters on the houses of Ormánság. They are full of beautiful stylized flowers, like the meadow at spring time.
Fortunately the traditional scratch-carved and written eggs from the Magyar past survived the great changes and are still a reminder of the times of long ago.
American Hungarian Museum, No. 33a, 1995