The Mythos of Easter Eggs

Every Easter morning I'd get ready for church. We'd arrive early, and I'd hunt eggs with the rest of the children in my youth group. Some of the plastic eggs had money in them, while others had candy inside. There was always a prize for the person who found the most eggs, so we all hurried to get the most. Jellybeans, peeps, and chocolate bunnies were given to all, while the winner of the egg hunt was given a new prayer book or a new bible.

During the Easter Morning service, we always heard the same sermon, year after year. Once I was old enough to actually pay attention, I found it quite tedious. Could nothing new be found to talk about during Easter? For example: could we not talk about the resurrection of Jesus, the most important aspect of the holiday? I guess the answer was no because we always received a sermon about the hidden meaning of the Easter egg.

Don't get me wrong, the priest did a great job of convincing everyone that the Easter egg is a holy item steeped in symbolism and tradition. It was quite a big pill for me to swallow. While I have never believed that my salvation depended on my knowing the "symbolism" involved in painting what could be called the fruit of the loins of hens, I do find their history intriguing.

Evidence shows that the Easter egg was not originally a Christian item. It began, like many Christian relics, (the Christmas tree for one) as part of a Roman feast. Eggs, as well as rabbits have been fertility symbols for hundreds of years. It has been acknowledged that the decorating of eggs can be traced back to the spring feast of the Romans. Coincidentally, many other cultures now decorate eggs during spring, both as part of spring celebrations and as religious holidays. However, not all of these holidays are Christian.

While the average priest will tell you that the Easter egg originated as a symbol of the resurrection, there are many other myths surrounding Easter eggs. My favorite myths center on Mary Magdalene. One has her at a banquet given by Tiberius Caesar. She proudly held out an egg for him and announced that Christ had risen. He mocked her and replied that the resurrection was as likely as that egg turning red in her hand. At that moment the egg did turn red. Another story had Mary placing a basket of eggs at the foot of the cross. The eggs were then dyed red with the blood of Christ.