Unless you’ve lived your entire life under a ‘tempurung’, or a strangely large eggshell, chances are you’ll associate decorated eggs with Easter or, if you’re Malaysian, the bunga telur.

But did you know that the tradition of gifting decorative eggs predates even Easter?

Ancient Egyptian, Persian, Greek and even Roman civilisations were already gifting eggs, with the earliest evidence dating some 60,000 years ago.

Easter eggs (and the Easter bunny), on the other hand, arrived on American shores during the 1700s and went on to become the highly decorated and oft-times chocolate covered ‘egg’ hunt that we know today.

The Egyptians, too, continue to gift decorative eggs during Sham el-Nessim or the festival of spring while the Persians give eggs as gifts during their New Year, which falls during the Spring Equinox.

The roots of gifting bunga telur during Malay weddings, however, is vague at best.

In general, bunga telur refers to favours given to all wedding guests. Family, friends and neighbours would gather in the kitchen the day before the wedding to boil up and pack hundreds of eggs to be gifted the following day.

While this tradition still exists in villages and the most traditional of homes, the use of eggs as bunga telur began to be replaced with chocolates, candy, candles and a plethora of other possibilities as time and trends changed.

Furthermore, with wedding guests sometimes numbering one thousand, the use of boiled or pindang eggs as favours became a logistical nightmare hosts no longer wanted to deal with.

That said, the bunga telur is still an integral part of traditional Malay weddings particularly during the merenjis or bersanding ceremonies.

Important guests and family members are invited to bless the bride and groom with rose water and bunga rampai (a potpourri of sorts) and they are, in turn, gifted a bunga telur.

These blessings often take the form of children for the newlyweds, with the egg as a symbol of fertility.

Unlike Easter eggs which are often dyed or painted, bunga telur come wrapped in paper, tulle or lace decorated with ribbons and flowers (hence bunga to mean flowers) and are usually put together in an arrangement called the bunga pahar.

While boiled or pindang eggs are commonly used, the more highly decorative bunga telur and bunga pahar also make use of faux eggs to allow for sufficient time to design and create them without risking the smell of rotten eggs ruining a beautiful event.

The use of faux eggs are also popular as they allow guests to keep and collect the bunga telur for posterity without needing to dismantle the telur from the bunga.

Let’s face it, we all have that aunt or tok with a glass display case filled with bunga telur from weddings they have attended over the years.

With some realistic expectations on their side when it comes to how elaborate the design can be and how many can be decorated in time for the wedding, using real eggs in a bunga telur should present no issues. If budget is a concern, regular boiled eggs are often used instead of telur pindang.

Boiled in a mixture of herbs, the telur pindang is reminiscent of Chinese tea eggs without the marbling effect. And while you don’t normally find it in regular restaurants, it’s not reserved exclusively for weddings either.

This cooking method preserves the eggs for longer than your standard boiled eggs, making it pretty useful if you feel like batch-cooking a whole bunch at one go.

If you’re keen to have a taste or want to include them in an upcoming wedding, give it a go – you’ll enjoy the experience.

This article first appeared in butterkicap.com

Butterkicap is a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of her people, food and places.