Eggs are a forbidden food during Lent, making them a welcome return to the menu on Easter Day!
Why do we give eggs at Easter?
Easter is a Christian festival. For Christians the custom of giving eggs at Easter celebrates new life. Christians remember that Jesus, after dying on the cross, rose from the dead. They believe that, through his resurrection, Jesus defeated death and sin and offers people the promise of eternal life if they follow his teachings.
What were the first Easter eggs like?
The first eggs given at Easter were birds eggs. These eggs were painted in bright colors to give them further meaning as a gift. We still paint bird eggs today but usually only chicken eggs.
An Anglo-Saxon legend - the Easter bunny and eggs
An Anglo-Saxon legend tells how the Saxon goddess Easter found a wounded bird and transformed it into a hare, so that it could survive the Winter. The hare found it could lay eggs, so it decorated these each Spring and left them as offering to the goddess.
Easter Egg Customs
In the UK, they have many Easter Customs involving eggs:
Pace Egging
Egg rolling
Egg Jarping
Egg giving (see Easter Day)
Easter egg hunts (see Easter Day)
Pace Egging
What are Pace Eggs?
Pace Eggs are hard boiled eggs with patterned shells, they are traditional in northern parts of England at Easter, with local variants in the name, such as Paste Eggs.
Where does the name Pace Egg come from?
The name is derived from Pesach (Passover).
The design
The background color is provided by onion skins with designs created by leaves and flowers placed next to the shell.
All kinds of fun are had with the hard-boiled decorated pace eggs.
Origins of Coloring Eggs at Easter
Decorating and coloring eggs for Easter was a common custom in England in the middle ages. Eggs were brightly colored to mimic the new, fresh colors of spring. The practice of decorating eggs was made even more famous by King Edward I of England who ordered 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and colored for Easter gifts in 1290.
Egg rolling What happens on Easter Sunday today?
Christians gather together on Easter Sunday for a Sunrise Service. This service takes place on a hill side so everyone can see the sun rise.
Some Christians take part in an Easter vigil, lighting a new fire outside the church early on Sunday morning. The Paschal candle, decorated with studs to celebrate Christ's wounds, may be lit from the fire and carried into the church where it is used to light the candles of the worshippers. The Easter Eucharist is a particularly joyful service. It is a popular time for baptisms and renewal of baptism vows.
Some churches have an Easter Garden. A stone is placed across the mouth of a tomb before Easter, then rolled away on Easter morning.
The traditional Easter gift is a chocolate egg.
The Traditional Egg Gift
The first eggs given at Easter were birds eggs. These eggs were painted in bright colors to give them further meaning as a gift.
As chocolate became more wide spread in the 20th Century, a chocolate version of the traditional painted egg was developed. The size of the chocolate egg has grown over the years and is now more likely to be the size of an ostrich egg rather than a small birds egg.
Easter Presents
Chocolate eggs are given to children. The eggs are either hollow or have a filling, and are usually covered with brightly colored silver paper
Egg rolling is very popular in England and is an Easter Monday sport. Hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a hill.
Customs differ from place to place. The winner's egg may be the one that rolls the farthest, survives the most rolls, or is rolled between two pegs.
"I was brought up to believe that egg rolling represented the rolling of the stone from the tomb of Jesus."
Pete from Lancashire, England
Egg Jarping (Egg Tapping)
Another activity that takes place on Easter Day is the playing of a game with the eggs known as "jarping", It's a bit like playing conkers, with players tapping their opponents' eggs until one breaks. The winner goes through to the next round, and so on until there is only one egg left unbroken. Copyright of projectbritain.com
A good hit by a jarper is called a "dunch". The game is popular in County Durham, where it is played on Easter Sunday.
"In Cumbria, it is traditional to have 'jarping', except we call it ' egg dumping'. There are strict rules surrounding the competitions, which take place in houses and pubs. Some larger egg dumps can take all day or evening, and quite a bit of money can change hands.
In closing it’s a time for families to gather and enjoy one another’s company and celebrate the Springtime and eat a chocolate bunny or maybe a PeeP or two.
Enjoy—
Happy egg Hunting!
