Why Easter Eggs?

Following on from my post "why hot cross buns"  I have had a request from a reader (and friend) to provide the answer to the question "Why Easter Eggs" so here goes.

At Easter millions of people give and receive Easter eggs.  Some of us are Christians and we do this as part of the Easter Sunday celebrations.  On Easter Sunday we celebrate the fact that Jesus was resurrected after his death on the cross. 

For Christians the egg represents new life hidden within a shell which does not seem alive.  It is a symbol of Jesus' resurrection; of his new life resurrected and of our new life which his resurrection gives us.

Many Christians will also say that the Easter egg is a symbol of the tomb from which Jesus rose again.  The egg looks solid when sealed shut, but when broken open we discover it empty.   

Here's something I learned today when researching this post; eggs have been symbols of festivals long before Jesus' time, most likely because of their amazing contents of life itself.

And when did eggs become associated with Easter? I can't find any specific answer, but there are myths that mary magdalen had eggs with her when she found the empty tomb.  

Historic fact provides that carved eggs have been given for many centuries and marzipan eggs are first recorded at the turn of the last century in Victorian times, which became chocolate eggs as we now know them.

I hope that helps.

If you'd like to know about this year's new Easter Egg which combines fabulous fairtrade chocolate with the Christian Easter Message - the Real Easter Egg - then I wrote about it here  I haven't yet eaten one of these so you'll have to wait till Sunday for my review :)