Motif: Easter egg from Dubrovnik Easter is the greatest promise of Christianity. Hope that this world which is an uncomfortable lodging to many, is not the end of being; that above its imperfect system of justice there expands the unbribable eternal judgement; that between thoughts, words, deeds, negligence and their consequences there is a connection that will be reflected in the judgement; that love and mercy are stronger than anything, even justice. And just that Easter, that faith, helps when it is hard, harder and unbearable: it gives substance to any transience, even the most beautiful. Pope Gregory the Great (540 – 604), that magnificent pope whom we, moreover, always come across whenever we listen to Gregorian chorals, suggested to priests to incorporate into Christian festivities, if possible, the elements of local folks’ traditions. Thus have many customs found their way to our time, customs in which we take part not even thinking about their millenniums-old roots and not knowing their origins. Among the widest spread attributes of Easter feast is egg. That perfection of shape and purpose: the ideal tin containing – as ancient folks believed - the entire universe which derived from it. With the beauty of packing, the translucent, light shell, only finest China can compare. Already in prehistoric European graves clay eggs were found; for ancient Persians, Egyptians, Jews, eggs had symbolic meaning - they were implying the renewal of life. Great Christian teacher, St. Augustus, also mentions egg and chicken as signs of this renewal. In Christian tradition egg shell was used to depict God’s grave, overcome by power of resurrection. In that small egg, i.e. next to its egg white and yolk, millenniums of hope and faith are stored and they are given as gift whenever Easter eggs are exchanged. Placing eggs into house foundations and scattering smashed shells on fields originate from that same impulse. Croatian word pisanica, meaning coloured egg, conserves the root of the Croatian verb pisati (to write) in the meaning of scribble, draw. For, to Easter egg as a sign of love and reconciliation, special attention has always been devoted. The decoration of an Easter egg is a genuine art. Old as the mere symbolics of Easter egg, are also the many motifs used in its decoration. The ornaments used by Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians and Croats correspond in many elements which means that they originate and have been passed down from their ancient homeland. And, apart from ornaments, in some regions eggs are decorated also by writing messages on them, most often love distiches: decorated eggs are thus special literary media i.e. they are multimedia, colourful and eatable. There exist traditional and always newer ways of decorating Easter eggs. First of all here are natural colours, derived from onion peel, spinach leaves, red beet, elderberries …. And those industrial ones that demand less effort. Here are also decorations that are not based on colour: from straw coating to industrial stickers. However, most enchantment is due to ancient techniques – writing in wax, cooking with plants that leave a leaf-print… In writing in wax (a smaller ornament is drawn in melted wax, then the egg is cooked in desired colour whereupon the wax is removed so that a white drawing remains on the coloured egg shell) especially richly articulated are the so-called “pengana“ eggs from Dubrovnik region. Their colour, due to almost violet red colour of the local onion is an intensive background to the motif and writing. It is also worth mentioning that the eggs from Dubrovnik and the eggs from Srijem (North Croatia) exhibit relatedness of motifs which is a dear contribution to experiencing integral Croatia. For this year’s Easter Croatian Post has chosen an egg from Dubrovnik: an egg in nest, a cheerful, spring egg. And the stamp will willingly serve as medium for such an ancient and good message. Željka Čorak
