Sunday, April 24, 2011

Origin of Easter Eggs

Easter is an important day in the life of Christians as it was on this day that Jesus Christ defeated death. This, I am sure, most of you might be knowing. But there is, supposedly, a custom associated with Easter. Its called 'Easter Eggs'. I did some research (Read: Google Search) on the origin of the custom and here are some if the findings:

There's a saying "Omne vivum ex ovo". And it means, "All life comes from an egg" !!


Before Christianity, there was Paganism, which was wide spread across America, Asia, Africa and Australia. The term 'pagan' is a Christian adaptation of the "Gentile" of Judaism. Anyways, in those times, the egg represented a new life, a beginning, a rebirth of the earth. With the advent of spring (in April), it was as if the Earth was reborn (poetically).

When Christianity started spreading across continents, christians started exchanging 'Eggs' on Easter Sunday. The connection?? 
  1. Easter is celebrated in April.
  2. Spring starts in April (in some countries, atleast)
  3. The common gifts / pleasantries exchanged in April were Eggs
  4. Easter signifies the risen Lord and Eggs signify a new life and hence the connection
So, if we actually look at it, there is no religious connection between Easter and Eggs. Even in Bible, there is no specific mention of Eggs. A ritual was followed and it continued. Now a days, Easter Eggs aren't actually eggs. They are replaced by chocolates and toys to suit the new world more concerned with packaging. Its more to do with the commercial aspect than the religious one.

Thats the mystery behind 'Easter Eggs'.

PS: You can check some amazing Easter Egg designs here.

6 comments:

  1. Easter eggs are like Santa Claus and the Christmas tree. They actually have no mention in the Bible.

    Nowadays mostly these festivals are quite commercialized.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Infact all festivals are commercialized now.. Its all about money, and following the 'ritual'..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good info abt easter eggs :D Nice post :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice post ,Binu and wishing you a happy Easter:)

    ReplyDelete

All yours..

wibiya widget

You might also like

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...