The photo I got from here.
Its amazing to me that there are so many and so different traditions around Easter country by country. Here you can read about the Hungarian traditions and on the photo you can see a “Hímestojás” (the painted egg) which is mentioned in the text.
“Easter Monday (Dousing Day, Water Plunge Monday) Locsolkodás is the main reason for which eggs are decorated in Hungary. This day provides for plenty of mischief. Boys surprise the girls by dousing them thor-oughly with buckets or bottles of water all the while reciting a little rhyme: Good day, good day, my lily, I water you to keep you from wither-ing, or Water for your health, water for your home, water for your land, here’s water, water! Don’t shriek and cry and run away: It’s good for you on Dyngus day. Formerly this practice was much rougher, for young men literally dragged girls to ponds, wells or streams at dawn and threw them in. It was expected that the girls accept this all good-naturedly and reward their tormentors with decorated eggs, bread and a glass of brandy/wine – or all three. The dousing was supposed to make of them good future wives with many children.
Hungarian girls, obliged to color twenty or even thirty eggs for a special boyfriend, knew that he might be given many more eggs by several different sweethearts. The lucky recipient would put them all away for several weeks and then get them out again to have another look: the girl whose egg had lost most color was pining for him.
Mostly every village had its own egg-decorating artist (íróaszszony = writing woman), an old woman who had done the work all her life. From her the HÍMESTOJÁS could be obtained by those who were not very skilled.”
