The Origins of the Easter Egg

**MASSIVE DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT CHRISTIAN, SO I AM RESEARCHING THIS AS I GO. I DO NOT INTEND TO OFFEND ANYBODY.**

Ok, so now that's out of the way, I'm sorry this is late, but I had some technical problems. As you all know, Easter has just passed, and so I figured that I should do an Easter-related post. I wasn't sure what to write about until my friend's sister asked: "Why do we have chocolate at Easter?" So that's what this is going to be about.


Just to recap, the Easter story is about Jesus dying for our sins on the cross on Good Friday, then coming back to life three days later on Easter Sunday - but how has that translated into the giving and receiving of chocolate eggs? That's what you're about to find out.

Apparently, the tradition of giving eggs at Easter was started by early Mesopotamian Christians, who gave each other chickens' eggs stained red as a symbol of the blood of Christ, much like Communion services today (although I know that's to do with the Last Supper, and that the Catholic laity don't take the wine. But anyway.) Eggs were later adopted by the Catholic Church as a symbol of the Resurrection, and in 1610, Pope Paul V published the 'Roman Ritual", a collection of Catholic rites that contained the statement: "Bless, O Lord! we beseech thee, this thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to thee on account of the resurrection of the Lord." 


Another reason for red eggs at Easter was because in Eastern Christianity, it is believed that Mary Magdalene was bringing cooked eggs to the Tomb of Jesus to share with other women, and when she saw the resurrected Christ, all the eggs in her basket turned red.

Eggs also have significance due to Lent, as it was customary to use up all household eggs before Lent began (hence why we make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday). Interestingly, the French for Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, means 'Fat Tuesday' because that was when all eggs and dairy were consumed.

Chocolate eggs are simply a variant on this theme, in the same way that beautifully painted Russian Fabergé eggs and plastic eggs filled with sweets are.

I hope you all had a good Easter if you celebrate it, and if you don't then I hope you had a good bank holiday weekend!

~ Tess

*(All information came from this wikipedia page)*