Wishing All Of Our Esteemed Readers a Joyful Easter Sunday!

Latvia70 Comments

It’s that time of the year when the social networks of Latvia are being loaded with photos of spectacularly coloured eggs and beautifully served tables. It’s Easter time!

Not only is it associated with the beginning of spring but also it reflects our old traditions and quality time with our family.

For Latvians Easter is an important holiday that is mainly celebrated by colouring eggs, spending time with the family, and playing various games.

The most popular Easter tradition in Latvia is egg dying.

The nature-loving Baltic countries are renowned for their traditional and natural approach to colouring Easter eggs using brown onion skins.

I find that, in an age of mass-produced pap, dyed Easter eggs are a burst of delightful, do-it-yourself spirit and something that I am determined to pass on to our girls.

Read More: 25+ Things To Know Before Visiting Beautiful Latvia For The First Time

Our Easter morning with hand-coloured eggs

A day before Easter, in kitchens across the country, families get together to create beautiful patterns and colours on what is both a staple food and a potent symbol of birth and renewal.

Eggs are covered in onion peels with the addition of grass strands, yarn, blueberry jam, frozen blackberries, flowers, tree buds or leaves for beautiful patterns.

Modern approaches involve making decoction out of red cabbage, turmeric, red wine or other ingredients that have been listed as good natural colourants.

Then, each egg is wrapped in a cloth, secured with yarn, placed in a large pot and boiled for 15 minutes. Boiled and cooled eggs are rubbed with a bit of oil to create a subtle shine that highlights the pattern created by onion peels; no two eggs are the same.

Every family has their own ways and even little secrets to practise and perform this heritage. that are kept close to home and passed on through generations.

I am not gonna hide the fact that competitiveness has led to a lot of time and effort being devoted to finding the best and most advanced dyeing ideas for natural colourants and dyeing methods.

Read More: 8 Things We Never Thought We’d Miss About Latvia

Eggs dyed in onion skins are beautiful

To all our wonderful readers – warmest wishes for a joyful and blessed Easter Sunday!

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Our Crossings follows the daily adventures of Latvian expats living in Sligo as they surf and explore the world

70 thoughts on “Wishing All Of Our Esteemed Readers a Joyful Easter Sunday!”

    1. I find that traditions in families form an important part of your social structure and even contribute to your sense of identity. Easter is a time to rejoice and be grateful for the blessings in our lives. Wishing you a happy and peaceful Easter. Aiva 🙂

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    1. I love Easter because it brings families together as well as lets us appreciate our traditions such as egg dying. It’s a healthy and eco-friendly activity compared to consuming large quantities of chocolate eggs, although occasionally, we love to indulge into those too. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a wonderful Easter break 🙂 Aiva xx

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    1. You know, I just love how the simple tradition of dyeing Easter eggs has still been practised in Latvia and how much it excites everyone to take part especially as nowadays people are so used to getting everything at the shopping mall. I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. Aiva xx

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  9. Thank you for sharing the story of Latvia’s Easter egg-dying tradition. I have wonderful memories, too, of dying Easter eggs with my mother as a youngster. Have a beautiful and memorable Easter with your family, Aiva!

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    1. I just love this simple Easter egg colouring tradition which uses onion skins to get a rich, earthy brown colour. It’s also a fun activity for the whole family that keeps old Latvian traditions alive. Thanks for stopping by, and have a good day. Aiva xx

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    1. Thank you kindly and right back at you. For as long as I can remember, we have dyed Easter eggs the traditional Latvian way using the skins of onions to colour the eggs a rich red-brown colour. To add a bit of rustic whimsy to the eggs we would wrap them in fern leaves, grasses and wildflowers and secure everything with a piece of clothing. It’s such a fun way to get ready for Easter as it brings the whole family together 🙂 I hope you had a wonderful Easter break. Aiva 🙂 xx

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  17. How beautiful! I agree about the mass-produced pap! So much wasteful garbage being created without thought. These home made ones are wonderful, and creative. They remind me of family cooking sessions when I was a kid – everyone having fun and being creative together. There’s nothing like home made for creating both beauty and bonds. Happy Easter to you and your family.
    Alison 🤗

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    1. Growing up in Latvia, there was one tradition we couldn’t imagine Easter without – colouring eggs with onion skins. I for one adore handmade stuff - it means that there is a real person and often a story behind the product. That’s why at our place, whether it’s Easter or Christmas, we always make all the decorations ourselves.  And because we work with our hands we are mindful of what our products are actually made of seeking to source recycled materials, and eco-friendly packaging to limit our production footprint also. Thanks for stopping by, and have a good day 🙂 I hope you had a wonderful Easter break 🙂 Aiva xx

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  18. Happy Easter, Aiva. Such a fun and beautiful tradition! I think it’s a good idea for you to pass this on to your daughters. I’m sure they will appreciate it many years after they first start to learn it.

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    1. Thanks so much, Bama. I find that family traditions are more than just routines; they are a legacy of love, values, important life lessons and memories that can be cherished for generations. By starting and nurturing these traditions, we ensure that our family’s story continues to be told, carrying our values and love forward long after we’re gone. Thanks for stopping by, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

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    1. Thanks so much 🙂 Onion skins are a perfectly natural way to colour eggs and give the eggs a beautiful, reddish-brown tone. But you can use a variety of other materials as well: chamomile gives a green-yellow colour, red beets will turn your eggs bright red, blueberries will make them violet-blue, coffee or black tea will colour the eggs light brown, whereas turmeric will give a beautiful yellow tone. I hope you had a wonderful Easter break 🙂 Aiva xx

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    1. Thanks so much and apologies for the late reply, as I just discovered your comment in a spam section. I probably have to check them more often to see if there are any decent messages from readers. I love Latvian Easter traditions and try to keep them alive by colouring the eggs and playing various games. I hope you had a wonderful Easter break, too. Aiva xx

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  26. Wow – your eggs are so beautiful. Growing up, we just used a dye kit from the store – much less romantic. 🙂 A belated happy Easter to you. We were in Portugal for the holiday so I was off the blogosphere for a while. I hope it was a wonderful holiday for you and your family.

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    1. Thank you :) this year we went the extra mile to colour the eggs. I am very competitive and want mine to be the most beautiful. There are many dye kits available now, too, but I still prefer to use natural ingredients. Firstly – we have to teach the girls that not everything comes from the store and second – more money left for travelling. I look forward to reading all about your Portuguese adventures. Cheers, Aiva 🙂 xx

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        1. Mine is pretty simple – to teach them about life, about right and wrong; to help them develop their values, goals, and morals; to help them learn to socialize and treat people well; to teach them to be good people.

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          1. As a teacher, I see lots of parents repeatedly indulge their children and try to protect them from every single one of life’s downs instead of giving them the tools to deal with life’s inevitable downs. You clearly aren’t doing that. Three cheers to you!

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          2. Thanks so much. As I intend to spend my retirement travelling across seven continents, I have to make sure that our girls are confident, independent people who are eventually capable of taking care of themselves, and a good place to start is to let children do things for themselves. xx

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    1. Thank you kindly. Winters in Ireland are mostly grey and pretty miserable, so seeing the bright yellow flowers poke their heads in early spring is a true delight. Thanks for stopping by, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

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