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Yet long before Jesus walked
the earth, the egg was revered as a symbol of rebirth and new
life by pagans in several Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures.
According to ancient pagan mythology, some people believed that
the earth was hatched from a giant egg. Others thought that
heaven and earth were formed from two halves of an egg. It
became common practice for Greeks, Chinese, Persians, and
Egyptians to give one another dyed eggs each Spring as symbols
of the rebirth of the earth after a long winter.
With such customs firmly in
place and well known, it was logical that the early Christians
would adopt the dyed egg as a symbol of Jesus’
Resurrection and the rebirth of man. They saw the egg
also as a symbol of the tomb from which Jesus rose. And so the
egg continued as an appropriate Spring gift.
During the Middle Ages, the
wealthy often wrapped eggs in gold leaf for giving as Easter
gifts. Peasants, on the other hand, used the more ancient
practice of coloring eggs by boiling them with the leaves or
petals from certain flowers It is reported that, in the 17th
century, Pope Paul V blessed the egg in a prayer used in
England, Scotland, and Ireland as part of a ceremony ending
Lent. At the time, the eating of eggs was forbidden during
Lent.
Although today dyed Easter eggs
play no part in the Roman Catholic liturgy, they are
incorporated into the Holy Week liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox
Church. Traditionally, the eggs are colored a bright red after
Holy Thursday services and then brought to the church on
Saturday evening for the Great and Holy Pascha (Velikden)
services. Some of the eggs are encrusted in an Easter bread
called kolache or kozunak. Both the eggs and breads are
blessed. Then, after the service, everyone breaks an egg
against the church wall and eats it, as a symbol of the end of
the Lenten fast. On Easter, the eggs and bread are given to
family and friends and especially to parents and godparents.
Today, when painted or dyed
eggs are, for the most part, considered an Easter decoration or
the object of a children’s hunt, it may be worthwhile to
consider restoring the dyed egg’s ancient symbolism of
new life and rebirth to the Easter celebration in our homes.
During the Church’s Easter
liturgy, we not only celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection but
also confirm our Lenten efforts to change our lives by renewing
our baptismal commitment to God. In doing so, we recognize that
Jesus not only opened the gates to eternal life but also gave
birth to a new way of living based on two great commandments
centered on love—loving God, one another, and one’s
self. Inherent in this is the realization that God calls us to
go forth from our community celebration to share His love with
one another in our everyday lives.
Eating dyed eggs with family
and friends on Easter and perhaps giving painted replicas of
eggs as Easter gifts can be a way to symbolize our renewed
baptismal commitment to God and our willingness to reach out to
one another not only on Easter but every day of our lives.
