The Cryptic History of Easter Eggs

 

 

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By Jenny Martin

 

During the span of recorded history, the egg has represented mystery, magic, medicine, food and omen. For the Christian faith, it is a universal symbol of Easter. During Easter celebrations it has been dyed, painted, adorned and embellished to show special symbolisms.

This wasn't always how we remember it though. Pre dating the history of easter eggs, they was attributed to pagan rituals whilst the rite of Spring festivals were taking place. It was a sign of the universe for the Egyptians, Romans, Chinese, Persians, Gauls et al. Since antiquated times right up to times we know today, easter eggs at the time of easter have been made to look eggstravagant and exchanged as easter gifts.

The Polish Invasion of the History of Easter Eggs

There are 2 ancient Polish legends which blend folklore and Christian beliefs during the Easter festivities. The first tells a fable of the Virgin Mary's antics. Mary is understood to have gifted the eggs to the soldiers at the cross. She asked for them to be less cruel and wept. It is said that the tears of Mary fell onto the eggs, spotting them with dots in brilliant colors. This is not a far cry from what we do with our eggs today so we can see this story may have shaped the history of easter eggs as we know it.

Another Polish myth that is worth looking at when trying to piece together the history of easter eggs. This one involves another Mary, Mary Magdalen as a matter of fact. It transcribes into a story of another historical event that could help us explain the history of easter eggs and why we color them and exchange them like we do. This legend says that Mary Magdalen went to the sepulcher to anoint the body of Jesus. Mary took a basket of eggs with her as a snack. It is said that when she arrived at the sepulcher, she uncovered the eggs to discover that the outer layers of the eggs were replaced with a fantastic array of colors.

English Traditions

Decorating and coloring of Easter eggs was already a custom in England during the middle ages. The records for the house of Edward I, in the year 1290, have listed an expense for 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and colored as Easter gifts.

What Does Faberge and Russia Have To Do With The Price of Eggs

The most famous version of Easter egg comes from the well known goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge. The Russian Czar, in 1883, commissioned Peter Faberge to create a special Easter gift for the Empress Marie.

One of Faberge's first eggs was a fantastic design with an outer shell made out of enamel - needless to say it would be priceless today. When the outer egg was opened, it revealed a smaller golden egg. The smaller egg when opened, revealed a chicken and the Imperial crown in replica. Does this sound familiar? It is just what we do today when we put goodies inside our easter eggs.

This first Faberge Easter egg was such a success and delight to the Empress that he was ordered by the Czar to create more eggs to be delivered each Easter. This custom was continued by the Czar's son Nicholas II and enabled the creating of 57 specialized Easter eggs.

People instantly fell in love with these gorgeous eggs and began to seek them out and hunt them down - and the easter egg hunt tradition we know today was born. So after we have taken a second to appreciate the history of easter eggs we now know why they are decorated, and why we have easter egg hunts.

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