#76 Painting Easter Eggs with Kids 🎨 和孩子们一起画卡通版复活节彩蛋

The past long weekend was the Easter Holiday in Australia and many other countries with a Christian tradition. The celebrations vary in different places. I didn't join any fun activities this time, but only had some chocolates in a bunny shape and watched all those decorations and food in either a bunny or an egg shape in shops and supermarkets... =)

The fertile bunny is a symbol of new life. Likewise, the Easter egg represents Jesus Christ's resurrection. It's said that to symbolize Jesus Christ's shed blood on the cross, some people dye the eggs red. While in some regions in China, boiled eggs are dyed red as gifts for newlyweds or newborns, which also comes from the fertility and life connotation of the egg. During the Easter, some kids play games related to the Easter eggs, like egg rolling and egg hunt. Painting eggs is also a fun thing to do.

Here are some egg candies I painted with my friends' little nephews. It was during a previous Easter holiday when I visited my friends in Atlanta, USA. We used 3 food coloring markers to draw some random patterns on the egg candies. I guess you can tell which ones were done by the kids. Comparing to the kids' wild abstract style, my drawing is not that imaginative, but I was definitely influenced by their cuteness... :)

I also heard about the idea of naturally dyed eggs and would like to try someday. That is to make use of natural plants such as turmeric, purple cabbage, onion skins...

So what did you do on your Easter holidays? Feel free to share your comments below! =)

My post is inspired by @killerwhale and @aaronli's photo contests themed Easter. Check out their pages and join the fun! :D

这个刚过去的周五到周一的长周末是西方的复活节假期。澳大利亚这里也到处都是复活节兔子和彩蛋的装饰。我这里拍的几张照片是前几年环游美国时，应邀拜访亚特兰大一对夫妇朋友时和他们的两个小侄子一起画的彩蛋。当时正赶上复活节，他们双方的父母和兄妹也去那里团圆，我在那里呆了一周，跟他们一起参加了些本地人的庆祝活动，体验了一下美国南方浓厚的基督教氛围。我们用的彩笔颜料和蛋都是可食用的，这种糖蛋的表面不光滑，画起图案来没有我想象的那么容易。估计你们一看就知道哪些图案是那两个小孩画的吧？🙂 相较这种狂野抽象的天真童趣，我画的图案只能是中规中矩了，呵呵。

复活节是为纪念耶稣被钉死在十字架后第三天的复活，是基督教里比较重要的日子。复活节期间，各地都有些不尽相同的传统习俗和活动，比如游行庆祝、泼洒圣水、去教堂做弥撒、滚火轮、穿戴一新、彻底打扫住处喻示新生活开始等。

还有一些和彩蛋有关的游戏，因为蛋是孕育新生命的代表，同时椭圆的形状寓意着生命的周期，这跟中国文化里的“圆满”也有相通之处。蛋自古以来就被用来庆祝新春，在基督教中，复活节蛋是耶稣复活的象征。复活节的时候，西方的很多家庭会让孩子们寻找巧克力彩蛋，或者把彩蛋放在有点坡度的地上滚，能抗住折磨坚持到最后才破裂的为胜利的彩蛋，胜利彩蛋的拥有者可以得到其他参与游戏者的彩蛋。

还有人会按照传统把鸡蛋煮熟后涂上红色，据说是代表耶稣洒在十字架上的鲜血。是不是有点像中国一些地区的婚庆和生日习俗？相传早在2500多年前，古波斯人就开始给鸡蛋涂色来迎接新年。最早关于基督教装饰蛋的习俗可以追溯到1290年，当时英国的爱德华一世订购了450只鸡蛋，染上颜色或裹上金叶分发给皇亲国戚们，雨露均沾一番。

好了，今天关于复活节和彩蛋的话题就聊到这里。欢迎留言分享你的想法，下次见！