Easter egg, the special Hungarian tradition

The so-called hímes tojás, which can be translated literally as decorated egg, is the heart and soul of the Hungarian Easter Holiday. It is a great Hungarian tradition to dye eggs with different bright colours either as decoration, to eat them or to give them to the young men who come to the house to water the ladies. What does the Easter egg symbolise, why is it such an important component of Easter and why do we decorate it? Magyarvagyok.hu published a long and detailed article about the Easter egg, in which all questions are answered.

An ancient symbol

The egg is most commonly known as the symbol of fertility. However, the egg also symbolises rebirth and resurrection, encompassing the past and the future. If one is aware of the ancient meaning and importance of the egg as a symbol, it is no longer strange that our ancestors, for example, placed a red egg with symbols on it in the hands of the deceased. Moreover, at Easter, the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated, and the egg is also a symbol of resurrection.

An ancient tradition

The ancient Hungarian tradition that is kept until today is the watering of young women, the so-called locsolás. The Hungarian verb locsol is similar to the English verb sprinkle (most often with water). Dipping in water is an ancient symbol of fertility. The girls are sprinkled with water and the boys, in return, get the hímes tojás, the dyed egg that symbolises reproduction and new life. Boys need to be extremely careful not to break the special egg.

Decorating the eggs

People often connect the decorated eggs with religion. However, the symbols covering the eggs go way back before Hungary was not even a Christian country. Hungarians used to put ancient signs on the eggs, representing the characteristics of ancient life in Hungary, motifs such as shepherding, nature, fertility magic, eternal life, etc. Interestingly, it is not common in Hungary to put Christian symbols on the Easter eggs.