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Easter eggsMost ancient cultures saw eggs as an emblem of life, and many had myths about the universe being born out of a giant egg. Eggs were dyed and eaten in Spring festivals in ancient times over much of Europe and the Middle East. In Christian Europe, eggs continued to be dyed in springtime as part of Easter rituals, although the eggs were now seen as a symbol of the resurrection.
There is a charming story associated with these Easter eggs in Southern Europe: The church bells, which had been ringing daily, would fall silent on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, out of respect for the death of Christ. Tradition had it that during this time, they traveled to Rome for the Pope's blessing, and they returned on Easter Sunday, bearing Easter eggs. On Easter Sunday, the children would be out in the garden, gazing at the sky, looking for the church bells to fly overhead. Meanwhile, their parents would be hiding the colored Easter eggs! When the bells finally rang, the children would hunt for the Easter eggs. Further north, it was the Easter rabbit that brought the eggs, as it had done since pagan times, when the Goddess Eostre empowered it to lay eggs once a year, at the beginning of spring. More recently, candy eggs have become popular at Easter, particularly chocolate eggs. Chocolate Easter Bunnies are also popular. In Australia, where rabbits are an introduced pest, chocolate Bilbies are the latest Easter novelty. The Bilby is a cute little marsupial native to Australia, with long ears, rather like rabbit ears (it is also called the rabbit-eared bandicoot). It is an endangered species, and the Chocolate Bilbies are helping to fund conservation attempts to protect the Bilby from extinction.
For instructions on making colored eggs see: Color
me Easter Tips
for coloring Easter eggs
easter eggs
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