The Festival of the Set Eggs, an anniversary edition, starts on the weekend in Ciocănești. “The tradition has been best preserved in Bucovina”
In the village of Museu Ciocănești in Suceava county, the 20th edition of the “National Festival of Long Eggs” is held on April 5-6, 2025. Hundreds of craftsmen from all over the country, children and adults, will again make the craft of eggs the main attraction.
Eggs decorated with various techniques can be found in the museum in Ciocănești photo: Marilena Niculiță Archive
The Egg Settlement Festival has been organized for 22 years in Ciocănești, in the Museu village entered the UNESCO heritage. He reached the twentieth edition (the pandemic years have stopped things here for a while), and the event is a reference one, bringing hundreds of craftsmen, children and adults every year. The teachers of the little ones are so skilled that the members of the jury are particularly difficult to hierarchize them, so in the last editions it has been decided that only the work of the teachers should be evaluated.
“I think he had his place here in us, in Ciocănești. The tradition of setting eggs has best been kept in Bucovina ”explains, simply, the Museographer Marilena Niculiță as the idea of this festival appeared.
Old techniques, new techniques
In Ciocănești not only the competition is an exceptional experience, but everything that happens in the two days full of events. The craftsmen who arrive here no longer set eggs in Easter, as once, because there is a fair of craftsmen, and visitors are with hundreds. The festival had the power to help tourism in the area, and tourism increased the fame of the festival, the effect being a beneficial one for Bucovina, but not only.
Museographer Marilena Niculiță says that this competition between the students of the craftsmen has the gift of keeping the living tradition. And it is not just about Bucovina, because being awarded at the Ciocănești Festival is the dream of all the students of the arts and crafts in the country where the technique of setting or decorating eggs is learned.
“There are many craftsmen in us in the area and this tradition has taken great magnitude, here in Bucovina and our locality. Having a national festival of the set eggs is also an encouragement for them to further unconsciously, not to lose this tradition, because they have the opportunity to make an exhibition of eggs set for sale at this festival. And then many surround all year long, and to participate in this festival that takes place annually here, in Ciocănești, but they also have invitations around the country, on exhibitions, fairs ”adds Niculiță.
There are craftsmen for whom the craft has become a source of living. Although it is important that the tradition be preserved as it was taken, new setting techniques have also taken place. See in Ciocănești, visiting the museum in which there are collections of thousands of set eggs, everything in the country currently, but also how to evolve the craft.
The reasons used to decorate the eggs are different, the techniques are different. From eggs with floral motifs, from the Dornelor basin, to wooden eggs adorned with beads, eggs set with wax or unique eggs sewn, all and many more are to be seen, researched and admired.
What will happen at the festival
At this year's edition, in addition to the contest itself to set eggs, during which children and young people compete, there will be book launches, symposiums, visits and a very rich fair of craftsmen. On Saturday, April 5th, the landscape fair and the popular craftsmen will open, within a symposium there will be talk about cultural tourism, there will be book launches, an exhibition-contest “Easter basket”, in which the housewives show their master in the preparation of the chunks, and will be the preparation of the party.
The program of the Festival of Listed Eggs 2025
On Sunday, April 6, the fair reopens, and on the “Stefan cel Mare” plateau in the locality are invited to a Pricesne concert. Ana Maria Chiloti and Mariana Anghel will sing.
