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History Decorated eggs are much older than Easter, and both eggs and rabbits are age-old fertility symbols. The Passover Seder service uses a hard-cooked egg flavored with salt water as a symbol both of new life and the Temple service in Jerusalem. The Jewish tradition may have come from earlier Roman Spring feasts. Easter egg origin stories abound—one has an emperor claiming that the Resurrection was as likely as eggs turning red (see Mary Magdalene); more prosaically the Easter egg tradition may have celebrated the end of the privations of Lent. In the West, eggs were seen as "meat", which would have been forbidden during Lent. Likewise, in Eastern Christianity, both meat and dairy are prohibited during the fast, and eggs are seen as "dairy" (a foodstuff that could be taken from an animal without shedding its blood). Another Orthodox tradition is the presenting of red colored eggs to friends while giving Easter greetings. This custom had its beginning with Mary Magdalene. After the Ascension of Christ, she went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with "Christ is risen", as she gave him a red egg. She then began preaching Christianity to him. The egg is symbolic of the grave and life renewed by breaking out of it. The red symbolizes the blood of Christ redeeming the world, represented by the egg, and our regeneration through the bloodshed for us by Christ. The egg itself is a symbol of the Resurrection while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it. One would have been forced to hard boil the eggs that the chickens produced so as not to waste food, and for this reason the Spanish dish hornazo (traditionally eaten on and around Easter) contains hard-boiled eggs as a primary ingredient. In the North of England, at Eastertime, a traditional game is played where hard boiled pace eggs are distributed and each player hits the other players egg with their own. This is known as "egg dumping" or "egg jarping". The winner is the holder of the last intact egg. The losers get to eat their eggs. It is also practiced in Bulgaria and other countries. Other decoration techniques Easter eggs are a widely popular symbol of new life in Poland and other Slavic countries' folk traditions. A batik-like decorating process known as pisanka produces intricate, brilliantly-colored eggs. The celebrated Fabergé workshops created exquisite jewelled Easter eggs for the Russian Imperial Court. A 27-foot (9 m) sculpture of a pisanka stands in Vegreville, Alberta. There are many other decoration techniques and numerous traditions of giving them as a token of friendship, love or good wishes. A tradition exists in some parts of the United Kingdom (such as Scotland and North East England) of rolling painted eggs down steep hills on Easter Sunday. In the U.S., such an Easter egg roll (unrelated to an eggroll) is often done on flat ground, pushed along with a spoon; the Easter Egg Roll has become a much-loved annual event on the White House lawn. An Easter egg hunt is a common festive activity, where eggs are hidden outdoors (or indoors if in bad weather) for children to run around and find. This may also be a contest to see who can collect the most eggs. When boiling hard-cooked eggs for Easter, a popular tan colour can be achieved by boiling the eggs with onion skin. In the North of England these are called pace-eggs or paste-eggs. They were usually eaten after an egg-jarping (egg-tapping) competition. Deep-fried chocolate Easter eggs are sold around Easter time in Scottish fish and chips shops. The idea was invented in a northeastern Scottish takeaway as a sequel to the extremely popular deep fried Mars Bar.• Beeping Easter eggs
Gallery Image:Traditional easter eggs in Croatia.JPG|Easter eggs from Croatia Image:Czech easter eggs 2005-03-26 00.jpegEaster eggs from the Czech Republic Image:Drapanka003.jpg|Drapanka from Poland Image:Sorbische_Ostereier.jpg|Sorbian easter eggs Image:Ostereier-Wien.jpg|Easter eggs from Vienna See also | ||||||||||||
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