For many years, my step-grandmother, and then my step-father, would always give myself and my sisters a pace egg as part of an Easter gift. These are dyed eggs which are a local tradition in different parts of NW England that traditionally uses a Celandine flowers (Ficaria verna). This is a British native springtime wildflower. They are common at this time of year throughout Britain.

How to make Pace Eggs

To make pace eggs is surprisingly easy. I think it’s an ideal campfire activity as it just involves boiling eggs. However, time is needed for the dye to work so do this first thing and open them up at the very end of a session.

1.Wrap up each egg in a piece of muslin. I used a new cotton kitchen cloth as I didn’t have muslin which was suitable for 2 eggs. Put the celandines in the cloth with the flower heads touching the eggs. This is important but very fiddly. Remove the stalks and leaves. Tie each bundle with string so the flowers can’t fall out. If you don’t have muslin, then an old nylon stocking will do.

2. Put the bundled eggs in a small saucepan. The smaller the pan the better so that the dye is more concentrated. The traditional dye is onion skins. You need the at least one onion per egg – but only use the skins. Save the onion for cooking in a dish.

3. Confession time. I didn’t use onion skins because I didn’t have enough onions. I used the water from a jar of almost-finished homemade pickled beetroot that a Czech friend gave me. An online search will reveal many natural dyes which can be experimented with.

1. Hard boil the eggs in the dye. Then leave the eggs for a few more hours after that. I think this is important in that when I tried this before, I didn’t get a very strong colour. Then unwrap the eggs and…!

And for a close up view…can you see the flower imprints?

The children will probably have picked more celandines than needed. Rather than chuck them away, dry them for use in art activities. I find commercial flower presses quite fiddly. The quick method involves a few squares of toilet or kitchen roll. Put the flowers on the roll.

Then cover up the flowers…

And stick them inside a big, heavy book. Put more books on top of this one and leave for a couple of days. Once they are dry, use them as you please!

Pace eggs are a lovely natural addition to any other egg celebrations you may have planned at this time of year. Help keep this tradition alive and spread it a little further.

This blog post was originally published in April 2011.