Everything to do with Easter eggs
Originally Easter eggs were hard boiled and painted with bright colours to represent spring.
One of the most popular Easter traditions is eating chocolate Easter eggs.
In recent years, chocolate eggs have joined the painted ones (ordinary eggs) in Easter baskets, the first ones being made by hand using tin moulds approximately 150 years ago.
These eggs had huge glossy shells and were decorated with sugar flowers and ribbons. At the start of the 20th century, mass produced eggs took over from the handmade eggs.
In the past, eggs were forbidden during Lent, therefore Easter Sunday became the traditional time to start using them again. This, in turn, led to many individuals giving eggs, usually decorated, to their friends.
The egg has been used to represent fertility and new life for hundreds of years, with many customs dating back to pagan traditions.
In some cultures legend has it that the earth itself, hatched from a giant egg.
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Originally Easter eggs were hard boiled and painted with bright colours to represent spring and were used in Easter egg rolling contests or given as gifts.
After they were painted and etched with various creative designs, the eggs were exchanged by lovers and romantic admirers, much the same as Valentine’s Day.
Decorating
A number of cultures developed their own manner of decorating Easter eggs. Crimson eggs, to honour the blood of Christ, are exchanged in Greece.
In parts of Germany and Austria, green eggs are used on Maundy Thursday. Austrian artists design patterns by fastening ferns and tiny plants around the eggs, which are then boiled.
The plants are then removed, revealing a striking white pattern.
A number of eggs are painted in a distinctive manner called pysanka. Pysanka eggs are a masterpiece of skill and workmanship.
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Melted beeswax is applied to the fresh white egg. It is then dipped into successive baths of dye. After each dip, wax is painted over the area where the preceding colour is to remain. Eventually an exquisite pattern of lines and colours is left.
In Germany and other countries, the contents of the egg are removed by piercing the end of the egg with a needle and blowing the contents into a bowl. The hollow eggs are then dried and hung from shrubs and trees during the Easter week.
The Armenians would decorate hollow eggs with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary and other religious designs.
Easter sports
Eggs play an important part in Easter sports. The Romans celebrated the Easter season by running races on an oval track and giving eggs as prizes.
Another age-old custom is the rolling of eggs downhill as a symbol of the stone being rolled away from the tomb where Jesus was laid.
The rules of an Easter egg roll are to see who can roll an egg the greatest distance or who can roll their egg without breaking it, usually down a grassy hillside or slope.
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