Cumbrian Pasche eggs - traditional

One of the classes for Hesket Newmarket show is Pasche eggs. Making Pasche eggs is a traditional Cumbrian activity with the word 'pasche' coming from the Jewish word passover and before that the celtic word pasche. Obviously, they are usually made for Easter and while many eggs are now painted or dyed with chemical dyes these are made in the traditional method - using onion skins for the dye and flowers to make a resist that leaves a pretty floral pattern.

Collect lots of onion skins...

Boil up to make a dye-bath.....

Collect flowers and leaves ....take a piece of fabric - I used cotton - then lay onion skins down on it, then the flowers, then the egg. Place flowers then skins around the remainder of the egg and wrap the cotton around the whole lot. Tie the bundle tightly and place in the die-bath, boiling as you would for a hard boiled egg. 

I removed some of the skins from the dye-bath to make room for the eggs.

Carefully lift out the eggs and cut the bundle ties. 

Remove the flowers and leaves and eggs carefully....

While the eggs are still warm rub them with butter to polish. Note - the brown eggs took the die better than white duck eggs.