Some Interesting Facts about Easter Eggs

It is not entirely certain, how the Easter eggs got introduced for the celebration of Easter, but its said that the egg symbolizes onset of spring season and restoration of richness. The shape of the egg also holds important significance, since its oval shape is considered to be a universal shape of life, or anything which represents the onset of life e.g. a seed, a raindrop, etc. Hence, Easter egg can be considered as a tribute towards the life's growth.

Following are certain interesting facts regarding the history and influences of Easter eggs:

1) A very interesting theory regarding the introduction of eggs for Easter is that the Christians, who observe the Lent period of 40 days, starting from the Ash Wednesday to the Easter, are not supposed to have any meat or egg during this time. Because of this reason all the eggs got accumulated. To avoid them from getting spoiled, people used to store the eggs in cool places made up of stones and splinters. On Easter Sunday, these eggs used to be taken out, hard boiled, decorated and given as gifts, or eaten as a special feast.

2) The reason behind decorating Easter eggs with colorful paints, symbolizes the onset of colorful spring after the dull and cold winter season. Apart from this fact, the tradition of coloring the eggs also emerged from Greece and Romania, where people would greet each other with a red egg (where red symbolizes the blood of the Savior).

In earlier times, there were no food coloring packs or dyes available. People used to have natural means to color eggs. Following are some ways described briefly by which certain colors were obtained:

Red: Obtained by boiling blackberries, strawberries, pokeberries, raspberries, beets or cranberries.

Light Yellow: Obtained from Marigold

Rust color: Obtained from the chips of Maple Bark

Burnt Orange Color: Obtained from the brown onion skins

Lavender color: Obtained from crushed uncooked blackberries

Light tan color: Obtained from grounded coffee beans.

Now, to engrave a design, the egg used to be dyed in a color as per the person’s choice, dried up, and then dipped in the hot melted wax or paraffin. Once the mould is made and cooled down, the desired design would be etched with a needle and then the egg was dipped again in the desired color. The wax was removed by the ways of heating and polishing.

4) A brocaded design could be attained by first sketching the desired design on the egg with the help of a pencil. And then applying paraffin to it. Once its dried up, the egg would be placed in vinegar. After this, the colors could be either applied by hand or pasted on as cutoffs.

5) The Ukrainians are quite popular for their amazingly decorated Easter Eggs. Each village would make its own design. The designs include priests, robes, bell towers and chapels.

6) In the United States of America, children paint their faces on eggs and put funny hats on them. Egg decoration also includes ribbons, flowers, or writings.

7) In Germany, friends exchange hand-decorated eggs with various conventional designs. These designs, which have been passed from generation to generation in certain towns and villages, came up with a legend or a verse. A very interesting tradition - In many villages, girls would give their suitors red eggs. And if they fail to have the eggs ready, the boys would spank them with canes!

8) In Italy, the eggs used to be blessed by the priest, and then arranged as colorful centerpieces. In certain wealthy homes, you could easily see as many as two hundred beautifully-colored and designed eggs in the center of the table. Italian children present their priest with eggs on Holy Saturday. Italians bake a special cake decorated with Easter Eggs. They also take their eggs to church on Easter Eve to be blessed.

9) In Luxembourg, the boys would gift their girlfriends with decorated cakes shaped like a pretzel. If the girl likes him, she would give him a decorated egg of the cake's size on Easter Sunday. If the cake is bigger than an ordinary egg then the egg could be a chocolate egg or some other egg-shaped creation. Married couples also follow the similar exchange. The custom gets reversed during a leap year.

10) In France, it is as customary to eat an omelet on Easter morning, in breakfast as for everyone to wear something new.

Certain beliefs on introduction of eggs in Easter:

1) The tale of a Poor German mother: She hard-boiled the eggs and dyed them by using things that she found around the house, (flowers, leaves, cloth, etc.); then she built a little nest in the yard to place the eggs inside. The next morning her children discovered the eggs when a rabbit jumped from the nest and hopped away. (Here the Easter Bunny also became involved in Easter.) Soon after, children began to build nests of straw and sticks on Easter Eve and wait for the arrival of the egg laying.

2) Easter Bunny, much like youngsters today hang their stockings and wait for Santa Claus to fill them.Another belief includes the bells of the churches. On Holy Thursday, these bells fly to Rome to mourn the death of Jesus. The night before Easter, the bells return and sow colored eggs in the gardens. Everywhere the children would go, there was more eggs to hunt, because chimes are no less generous with Easter Eggs than with their joyous Resurrection music.

3) Another belief includes the bells of the churches. On Holy Thursday, these bells fly to Rome to mourn the death of Jesus. The night before Easter, the bells return and sow colored eggs in the gardens. Everywhere the children would go, there was more eggs to hunt, because chimes are no less generous with Easter Eggs than with their joyous Resurrection music.

The creation and tradition of Easter eggs have also been followed by many Easter egg games. Some of them are described as follows: Eier-spacken, Eier-doppen, Jarking, Spacken, or egg-tapping, Eirthikken, Pace-egging,Eirlesen or egg gathering, Egg-wink or burst the egg, Easter Bunny’s Egg or pin the egg in the Hare’s paws, Egg dances, Eierschieben, Canigeln, or egg rolling, Sprinkling of girls with water for eggs, The very old yet famous, egg hunts, And a lot more.

Going through the traditions and customs of various places around the world, the significance of eggs in Easter can easily be made. Eggs definitely play a very crucial part in the celebration of Easter, almost similar to what Santa plays in Christmas.

Have a Happy Easter!

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