The beaded Easter egg tradition in Bistrita’s village

Egg painting tradition is revived every Easter in Romania, with each region of the country boasting different original art styles on decorating eggs.

If in some parts of Romania, mainly in northern Bukovina, there is a tradition of painting eggs using different geometrical and floral motifs, women in a village in Bistrita-Nasaud, Transylvania have preserved another ancient local tradition on Easter eggs: they adorn the eggs with beads. For every egg sewn with beads, a housewife from Salva village on Salautei Valley is working for more than an hour.

The bead sewing in Salva passed from one generation to another is actually a lifestyle  around here, as it doesn’t limit itself only to Easter eggs, but it’s widespread to folk costumes, belts, paintings or jewelry as well.

The tradition says that the beaded eggs are usually given to children and other guests who come to every house in the village for the “wetting” ceremony, widespread in the region on Easter.

Every color on the Easter beaded eggs has a certain meaning: yellow symbolizes the light, the life; the red is the symbol of love, fire, and blood; white means purity, while blue is for the sky and health. Green symbolizes the nature coming to a new life and is also the symbol of fertility.

The price of such an egg starts from RON 5 up to RON 15, depending on the number of beads and the complexity of the manufacturing process.

Foreigners are huge fans of the Salva eggs, queuing to buy them as a souvenir to remind them of the Bistrita’s local traditions.