Tradition and Technology Meet at an Online Easter Egg Painting Workshop

Those interested can learn about the Easter heritage of Transcarpathia (Ukraine) at the workshop called the Carpathian Basin Online Traditional Egg Decorating Event of the Hungarian Heritage House on April 4.

The Carpathian Basin Online Traditional Egg Decorating Event is organized by the Hungarian Heritage House for the fifth time this year. The event shines light on the the egg painting traditions of a highlighted region each year.

In 2025, visitors will be able to get acquainted with the egg painting practice of the craftsmen from Shalanky (Salánk), a settlement inhabited by Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, with the help of ethnographers and experts to craft the traditional Shalanky Easter Egg.

Local egg painting women will also appear live to share little-known details about the tradition of the gold-painted decorated eggs with those interested.

The host of the program is ethnographer and folk artist Beatrix Jókainé Gombosi, while the invited instructor is Réka Kész, an ethnographer of Shalanky origin and a staff member at the Sóstó Open-Air Museum in Nyíregyháza (eastern Hungary). Since 2013, she has been researching the traditional egg decoration techniques of Shalanky^{and has worked over the years with 19 local women and girls who inherited the technique as a family tradition.}

During her research, she documented more than 300 egg samples, which show remarkable richness and diversity.

The online egg-painting workshop will also feature women from Shalanky^{who will tell the participants how they experience this tradition, how they were raised in it, and what special features this egg embroidery has. Participants of the event can not only learn egg-painting techniques, but also learn about Transcarpathian Easter traditions.}

Fact

Shalanky^{is a small village in Ukraine, located in the Transcarpathian region. Its inhabitants deeply preserve their folk traditions, including their distinctive Easter egg decorating techniques. In 2022 Artificial Group and the Museum of Ethnography created NFTs (Non-Fungible Token) out of the traditional painted eggs. Their goal was to use digitization to pass on this unique cultural heritage to future generations.}

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