Exhibit Offers Array of Decorated Eggs

In the question of which came first--the chicken or the egg--Ruth Cushner believes it’s the egg. Specifically, a sky blue egg decorated with yellow sunbursts, red swirls and a splash of green.

Cushner, a consultant to the Thousand Oaks Library gift store, has an exhibit of her elaborately decorated eggs at the library now through Easter.

From hollow eggs to wooden eggs to wax-filled eggs, the exhibit includes eggs of all colors, decorated with birds, tulips and other imagery. Dozens can be seen hanging like Christmas ornaments from tree branch displays.

Those who take a fancy to the oval works of art can buy them for $4 to $5, with proceeds going toward the purchase of special collection materials for the library, such as radio transcripts and rare books. About 12 dozen eggs have been decorated for the exhibit.

“The library gift shop assembled them to teach people about other cultures,” Cushner said.

In Mexico, for example, empty eggshells are filled with confetti and then decorated. People then crack them over the head of someone they like to show affection, she said.

“The eggs represent a lot of different things,” said Cushner, 66. “Red is the color of blood and bravery, truth, steadfastness, courage, things like that. Yellow is the color of warmth and spring and youth and hope and expectations. Blue is usually sky or heaven or water for the good of the community.”

As for the pictures drawn on the eggs, they represent different things, too. Images of tulips and roses, for example, represent fertility.

Cushner said there are down-to-earth reasons behind egg rituals, such as the traditional Easter egg hunt.

“Eggs are a pagan sign of life. Peasants used to stick them in fields,” she said, noting that finding eggs were thought to bring good luck.