Easter Egg Traditions

[best]

Easter egg origin stories abound — one has an emperor claiming that the Resurrection was as likely as eggs turning red (thus painted eggs); 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.
Another tradition that I came across states that the egg hunt started in europe by the Catholic Church. The tradition of pagan worship was to set out eggs in the spring as gifts to mother nature or what ever pagan god was being worshipped in early spring. The church would have the children search for the eggs to bring discouragement to the pagan community in hopes of them finding enlightenment of who Jesus is.

Share what traditions you know of.

Modern acceptance of easter traditions have many Christians convert symbols into a bible story of sorts... the egg equals a rebirth/new life, just as we are given new life when we accept and become a child of God.

[OVERIT]

Another Polish legend tells of when Mary Magdalen went to the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus. She had with her a basket of eggs to serve as a repast. When she arrived at the sepulchre and uncovered the eggs, lo, the pure white shells had miraculously taken on a rainbow of colors.




God created this Easter egg
Of this much I am sure....

[toad]

If you research the word Easter you will find it comes from the ancient god Astarte. It is a unfortunate translation in the New Testament. It appears once in Act and it is translated from the word that means passover. I have heard it said that the English actually corrected the Greek, that the prisoners were to be held until after easter which was sperate from passover. Easter is a pagan holiday, the egg is a sign of fertility and the rabbit is also. ........the godess Astarte, myth has it, fell from the heavens as an egg into the sea, and the fish took it to the shore and it hatched. She then gave a virgin birth to another god son. This was thousands of years befor the birth of Christ.......the enemy had a plan from the git-go..........Also I suggest a research of Good Friday..........there ain't no such thing..........Jesus died on the cross on Wed.

[Morning Glory]

Origin of the Easter Rabbit: A Tradition of Fertility

Some of the confusion is dispelled by looking at the origin of the very word, "Easter." For all the pagan traditions associated with it, "Christmas" is at least easily recognizable as a Christian holiday, from its name alone. But Easter is named after Eastre, a pagan Saxon goddess!

Eastre (earlier, Eostre, derived from the Saxons' Germanic heritage) was the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of dawn, spring and fertility. Our word, "east" is related to this deity's name. Her male consort was the Sun god, and the sun does rise, after all, at dawn and in the east. Rites of spring were celebrated in her honor at the vernal equinox (first day of spring). The first Sunday after the first full moon succeeding the vernal equinox was also sacred to her, and this pagan holiday was given her name -- Eastre. The full moon represented the "pregnant" phase of Eastre -- she was passing into the fertile season and giving birth to the Sun's offspring.

Eastre's symbols were the hare and the egg. Both represent fertility and, consequently, rebirth. Since rabbits are more common in most lands than hares, over time the rabbit has been substituted -- not without merit, since rabbits are notorious for their fertility. Thus was born the "Easter Rabbit" tradition.

Dyed eggs were already being used as part of pagan rituals at the dawn of history in the Near Eastern civilizations. These were the first "Easter eggs." As the traditions of the Easter Rabbit and Easter eggs evolved, they were lumped together -- somewhat incongruously. Thus in our modern Easter lore, although the Easter Rabbit is sometimes thought of as laying the Easter eggs so eagerly sought by children, the Easter Rabbit is nonetheless often regarded as male. Since rabbits don't lay eggs anyhow, I suppose quibbling over gender wouldn't make much sense.

Later, the new Christian religion, with its emphasis on rebirth (through the Resurrection), found it expedient to continue celebrating Eastre's holiday. The focus simply switched to Christ -- and the spelling, eventually, to "Easter."

[toad]

Originally Posted by Morning Glory

Origin of the Easter Rabbit: A Tradition of Fertility

Some of the confusion is dispelled by looking at the origin of the very word, "Easter." For all the pagan traditions associated with it, "Christmas" is at least easily recognizable as a Christian holiday, from its name alone. But Easter is named after Eastre, a pagan Saxon goddess!

Eastre (earlier, Eostre, derived from the Saxons' Germanic heritage) was the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of dawn, spring and fertility. Our word, "east" is related to this deity's name. Her male consort was the Sun god, and the sun does rise, after all, at dawn and in the east. Rites of spring were celebrated in her honor at the vernal equinox (first day of spring). The first Sunday after the first full moon succeeding the vernal equinox was also sacred to her, and this pagan holiday was given her name -- Eastre. The full moon represented the "pregnant" phase of Eastre -- she was passing into the fertile season and giving birth to the Sun's offspring.

Eastre's symbols were the hare and the egg. Both represent fertility and, consequently, rebirth. Since rabbits are more common in most lands than hares, over time the rabbit has been substituted -- not without merit, since rabbits are notorious for their fertility. Thus was born the "Easter Rabbit" tradition.

Dyed eggs were already being used as part of pagan rituals at the dawn of history in the Near Eastern civilizations. These were the first "Easter eggs." As the traditions of the Easter Rabbit and Easter eggs evolved, they were lumped together -- somewhat incongruously. Thus in our modern Easter lore, although the Easter Rabbit is sometimes thought of as laying the Easter eggs so eagerly sought by children, the Easter Rabbit is nonetheless often regarded as male. Since rabbits don't lay eggs anyhow, I suppose quibbling over gender wouldn't make much sense.

Later, the new Christian religion, with its emphasis on rebirth (through the Resurrection), found it expedient to continue celebrating Eastre's holiday. The focus simply switched to Christ -- and the spelling, eventually, to "Easter."

This is really good, thanks for sharing..........I also thank you for correcting my spelling, I knew that I was in the ball park of some of them, but that is all. What about Good Friday? Jesus said in the 12th chapter of Matthew that "As Jonah was, so shall the son of Man be three days and three nights in the tomb." Do you think Jesus meant two days and three nights or meant three days and three nights? Of course I have my opinions and I believe that passover was on Thursday which made it a High Sabbath, then Saturday was the regular sabbath. Jesus and the disciples ate the passover meal a day early, and Jesus died at the same time the passover lambs were being killed.

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Another little Easter Egg
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