(16 Apr 2025)
CROATIA BLACK EASTER EGGS
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTIONS:
LENGTH: 7:49
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cakovec, Croatia – 8 April 2025
1. Wide of Ines Virc, curator and pedagogue at the Museum of Intangible Heritage
2. Black Easter eggs in a drawer
3. Screen showing Easter egg
4. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Ines Virc, curator and pedagogue:
“The black Easter egg was added to the list of protected heritage in 2023. It is special not only because of its colour but also due to the intricate technique used in its creation and tradition. The flower motif is carefully drawn, and multiple layers of wax are applied to ensure durability. This is why some older examples have lasted for decades.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Donja Dubrava, Croatia – 8 Apri 2025
5. Various of Donja Dubrava village and black Easter egg sculptures
6. Artisan Biserka Vucenik arriving at workshop
7. Vucenik teaching pensioners how to make black eggs
8. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Biserka Vucenik, black Easter egg artisan:
“I learned how to make black Easter eggs from Mrs. Marija Fabic. She was the mother of my school friend, so I had been encountering these Easter eggs since childhood – that is, since my early school days. Easter eggs have always fascinated me. I always liked to tinker, to make things, but of course, it wasn’t that simple. That batik technique – where melted wax is applied to the eggshell with a special tool – was quite tricky. The tip of the tool is made from copper wire shaped into a tiny brush. It was a bit too difficult for children; you’d burn yourself and make all kinds of mistakes. But if you’re persistent, over time it really draws you in – and that’s how I learned. I was lucky because, at the time, there were still women artisans alive in Donja Dubrava. While I was just a second or third-grade student, I was able to see their work and remember it all.”
9. Various of group applying wax to the eggshell
10. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Biserka Vucenik, black Easter egg artisan:
“I’ve always been interested in this tradition. I was especially fond of the black Easter egg – with its black background and flowers in red, pink, and purple – it really stood out. It was something special, truly special. Every Easter, I would get an egg from my godmother, and my mom would buy an even more beautiful one for her daughter than the one I received. Mine was, let’s say, second or third tier. As a child, I used to resent that and would say: “I’ll make one myself – and much better! Of course, that was just a childish reaction; I didn’t mean it seriously… but in the end, that’s exactly how it turned out – because today, I genuinely love making them.”
11. Wide of Vucenik showing a participant a technique
12. Participant drawing flower on egg
13. Vucenik explaining technique
14. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Ljudmila Suzdaljceva, pensioner:
“I had never done it before, but I like it. It’s very interesting, but also quite difficult. You really have to practise.”
15. Finished Easter eggs in foreground with group decorating eggs in background
16. Wide of workshop
17. Close of participant drawing on egg
18. Pan right of participants
19. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Nada Simunic, pensioner from Donja Dubrava:
“Easter eggs were always given as gifts. Best friends would come together and exchange Easter eggs. This tradition always took place on the Sunday after Easter. They would say, ‘A sister, a bride is forever, a sister,’ and that marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship.”
20. Vucenik and Simunic show an old tradition of “sisterhood”
21. Various of drying and taking off wax
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