Many stories exist to explain the origin of the egg as an Easter symbol. Your grandchildren don’t need a comprehensive treatise to answer their questions about the Easter egg’s beginning. They just need grandpa or grandma to explain the symbolism in a way that makes sense to them.
Why Easter eggs? In the early church, the season before Easter was a season of fasting from animal products: no meat, no eggs, no dairy products. This fasting period ended with the Easter liturgy and eggs were distributed as the first food of the Easter season. But eggs also have another symbolism. The eggshell symbolizes Christ’s tomb and cracking open the egg represents his resurrection from the dead and emergence into new life. The egg is also a trinitarian metaphor. The shell, yolk, and egg-white represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Why do we dye Easter eggs? Eggs were dyed different colors to represent different aspects of the Easter story. Early Christians used yellow to represent the resurrection, blue to represent love, and red to represent the blood of Christ. Later, eggs were painted with passion and resurrection scenes and then hidden. Children had to find them and explain the Easter story. In 1290, Edward I of England envisioned decorated, not just dyed, eggs. He had 450 eggs painted in various colors, pressed with gold leaf, and distributed throughout his household.
Easter egg hunts were popularized by Martin Luther to illustrate the joy that Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome had in discovering that Jesus had risen from the tomb. (That is also the reason we hide goodies inside artificial eggs.) The true trendsetter for Easter egg hunts was Queen Victoria and her mother. A diary entry written by fourteen-year-old Victoria on April 7, 1833, stated that when Victoria was a child, her mother would host egg hunts at Kensington Palace in London, England. From there, Easter egg hunts spread throughout the English speaking world.
Easter egg rolling happens at the White House every year. Egg rolling is a symbolic reenactment of the stone rolling away from Christ’s tomb. It officially began in 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes.
Perhaps this Easter, after your grandchildren have run around the yard and collected all the colorfully decorated eggs you carefully hid, you can share some insights on how your faith is represented in the symbolism associated with the Easter egg.
Pili Abourchaar is the Director of Grandly
Help us grow this project, please consider making a donation!
Related
Now I Understand July 15, 2021In “For Discussion”
A Christmas Strategy November 1, 2020In “Tools You Can Use”
A Great Gift December 15, 2018In “For Discussion”
Share this article with your friends:
Message: SEARCH POSTS
Post Categories
- Audio-Visual Posts
- For Discussion
- Motivation
- Testimonies and Stories
- Tools You Can Use
- Uncategorized
- Understanding Youth