 eThe
actual time it takes for a hen to make an egg and lay it is
24 to 26 hours.
Then the hen rests about 30 minutes or so before starting
to make another one
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Spring
and Easter
March, April and May are spring months.
Easter Sunday is sometimes in March, but is in April most
years. During springtime and at Easter, it's a tradition for
people of many different lands to decorate eggs.
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Knock
'ems - This game is played
with each player choosing an egg and tapping it on a partner's
egg. The first egg to crack loses and the winner goes on to
challange other winners in a knock out competition until there
is one egg left. In
Bulgaria the person who ends up with the last unbroken egg is
believed to have a year of good luck
Egg Hunts - Eggs are hidden in public
places and the children of the community are invited to find
the eggs |
 
Try our air freshener craft. It is very easy.
click picture to view instructions |
 
President
Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife, Lucy, officially opened
the White House grounds for egg rolling on Easter Monday 1878.
Successive Presidents continued the tradition, and the event
has been held on the South Lawn ever since. As egg rollers
say goodbye, each receives a special presidential wooden egg
complete with the signatures of the President and the First
Lady
The rules of an Easter Egg Roll are to see who can roll an
egg the greatest distance or can make the roll without breaking
it, usually down a grassy hillside or slope. |
 
Different
cultures have developed their own ways of decorating
Easter eggs.
Originally Easter eggs were painted with bright
colors to represent the colors of spring. In medieval
time eggs were traditionally given at Easter to the
servants. The bright red colored egg is the symbol
of Easter (or Pascha) for the Orthodox Christians
all over the world. |
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Crimson
eggs, to honor the blood of Christ, are exchanged in
Greece. |
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In parts
of Germany and Austria green eggs are used on Maundy
Thursday (Holy Thursday). |
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Austrian
artists design patterns by fastening ferns and tiny
plants around the eggs, which are then boiled. The plants
are then removed revealing a striking white pattern.
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The Poles
and Ukrainians decorate eggs with simple designs and
colors. A number of eggs are made in the distinctive
manner called pysanki (to design, to write; see
below for details) |
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In Germany
the contents were removed by piercing the end of each
egg with a needle and blowing the contents into a bowl.
The hollow eggs were dyed and hung from shrubs and trees
during the Easter Week. |
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The Armenians
decorate hollow eggs with pictures of Christ, the Virgin
Mary, and other religious designs |
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Marshmallow
Peeps - In
1953, it took 27 hours to create one Marshmallow Peep. Today,
it takes six minutes.
People eat them stale, microwave them, freeze them, roast them,
and even use them as a pizza topping.s
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Easter
Bread
Easter breads are a worldwide tradition. They
are big and small and decorated. The bread is sometimes called
"kolache" or "kozunak". There is no exact
English translation, although the Italian "Panettone"
is similar.
A
traditional favorite on Good Friday in England, Hot Cross
Buns are a spicy currant or raisin studded yeast bun, topped
with a "Cross" of lemon flavored icing.
Paska ,taditional Polish egg
bread, is a round shaped bread, much richer than ordinary
bread
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Egg
Cooking tips:
Boiling
an egg
1.
Place the egg in a saucepan. 2.
Run cold water into the saucepan until the water is 1 inch above
the egg 3. Place the saucepan
on a stove and cook over medium heat until the water begins
to boil. 4. Reduce the heat to
low. 5. Simmer for 2 to
3 minutes for soft-boiled eggs or 10 to 15 minutes for hard-boiled
eggs. 6. Remove the egg
with a spoon or ladle and let it cool slowly,
If
you run cold water over your boiled egg immediately after
boiling it, it is much easier to peel.
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| 13 oz. bag of Jelly Beans |
3 cups flour |
| 2 teaspoons baking powder |
1/2 teaspoon salt |
| 4 tablespoons unsalted butter,
room temperature
|
1 cup granulated sugar |
| 4 large eggs |
2 teaspoons vanilla |
| Preheat
the oven to 375°F. |
In an electric mixer, add the butter and sugar and
cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add 1 egg and beat to incorporate, repeat with 2nd
and 3rd egg. (the 4th egg is used later)
Beat in the vanilla, then add the baking powder, salt,
and flour, beating on low until fully mixed - do not
mix too long. The dough should be very soft and sticky.
Add jelly beans and mix ..
Using a spatula, scrape the dough out of the bowl
onto a floured surface. Put flour on your hands and
sprinkle flour on top of the dough. Then cut the dough
in half. Take one half of the dough and roll lightly
making a rope- pick it up and place it on a sheet
pan . Do the same with the second half.
Flatten them out on top a little with palms. Next
beat the 4th egg in a bowl and brush coat it evenly.
Then place in preheated oven for about 25 minutes
or until slightly golden brown.
Let cool for about 15 minutes or until cool enough
to handle.
Place on a cutting board and slice crosswise on the
diagonal into about 3/4 inch slices.
Put back on the sheet pan (inside up) and bake for
another 10 minutes until the edges are turning slightly
brown.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to
cool
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Polish
American traditions Swieconka- Blessing of
the Baskets
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Baskets
containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought to
church to be blessed on Holy Saturday. The basket is
traditionally lined with a white linen or lace napkin
sometimes embroidered. The priest then sprinkles the
individual baskets with Holy Water
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Contents
Maslo / Butter : This dairy
product is often shaped into a lamb ;Chleb
/ Easter Bread: A round loaf ; Chrzan
/ Horseradish : Symbolic of the Passion of Christ
; Jajka / Eggs and Pisanki:
Indicate new life ; Kielbasa /
Sausage: A spicy sausage ; Szynka
/ Ham: Symbolic of great joy and abundance
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More
than 1 billion Easter eggs are hunted in the United States
each year in parks, back yards and on the White House lawn.
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May is
National Egg Month.
More eggs are sold in America during the Easter season - usually
in April - than at any other time of the year. Then, sales
go down, but the hens keep on laying eggs. The American Egg
Board celebrates National Egg Month in May .
Egg Salad Week is
the full week right after Easter Sunday every year. The week
after Easter, many people turn their decorated hard-cooked eggs
into egg salad. |
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The
second Friday of October is World
Egg Day each
year. International Egg Commission (IEC) declared World Egg
Day thus egg farmers could tell cooks about eggs at the same
time. |
 Pysanky
eggs are pieces of art demonstrating
skill and workmanship. Melted beeswax is applied to the fresh
white egg. It is then dipped in successive baths of dye. After
each dip wax is painted over the area where the preceding color
is to remain. Eventually a complex pattern of lines and colors
emerges into a work of ar.
Click to view local Pysanki. |
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| How
to Tell if an Egg Is Hard-Boiled
1. Gently
place the egg on its side on a countertop. 2. Spin the egg.
3. If the egg spins freely, it's hard-boiled. 4. If it wobbles
and stops spinning, it's not hard-boiled.
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 Peter
Cottontail |
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The
idea of the Easter bunny began in Germany . Children
believed if they were good, a bunny would lay a nest
of colored eggs for them to find on Easter morning.
When German settlers came to America in the 1700's,
they brought with them the tradition of the Easter Bunny
. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly
after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not
widely celebrated in America until after that time
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Click
to view Greenlizzy's
Americans spend 2 billion dollars on Easter candy, and
eat 7.1 billion pounds of Easter candy each year!