Easter Egg traditions are a very important act of symbolism in paganism in the Ukraine. In fact the egg dying tradition constitutes one of the most important acts in the whole pagan belief system! Even though most think of painting Easter eggs as a Catholic tradition, it was first invented by the pagans in the Ukraine and later "lifted" as an addition to Christian tradition.

The pagans had a practical and easily understood system of beliefs that usually oriented around something earth-based. The egg to them was an object of great fascination due to its ability to create life from within itself. It was thus viewed as an object of great power. It thus become one of the single most important elements in their belief system.

The yolk reminded them of the sun, another power symbol. This also indicated an affinity with nature, which they liked. Birds were thought to be the favorite animal of the sun god, and humans wise to collect their eggs in an effort to appease him.

They would also make numerous dye markings across the eggs. Since eggs were seen as magical objects, anything written on them was imbued with immediate mystical properties. In pagan times these symbols imbued an egg with magical powers to ward off evil spirits, guarantee a good harvest and bring a person good luck. They would paint trees, children, and other drawings representing spells they wished to cast through the egg.

Of course the Catholic tradition took up this same habit, only giving the old methods new meanings that fit in line with its own belief system. And thus the dots that had been tributes to the stars became symbolic of Virgin Mary's tears, the fish that symbolized health came to mean Jesus, and so on.

Colors also have meaning. The main element to colors on pagan eggs is that the belief was the more you had, the more magic the object was filled with and the more effective its spell casting capabilities would be.

This is a tradition that few know about and even less understand. People paint eggs all over the world but do not know where the tradition came from or anything about the paganism that spawned it. This is one of the great ironies of Easter, and continues unabated to this day.

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