What do eggs have to do with the Resurrection, anyway? Part of our home education is researching the various holidays - origin, customs, modern innovations...etc. Holiday related puzzle and game sites, too, but that's not very impressive, is it, so I meant to leave that out.
What do eggs have to do with Resurrection Sunday? Hmm.... Here's what we found:
*The Romans, Gauls, Chinese, Egyptians and Persians all cherished the egg as a symbol of the universe. From ancient times eggs were dyed, exchanged and shown reverence.
**In pagan times the egg represented the rebirth of the earth.
***The egg was believed to have special powers. It was buried under the foundations of buildings to ward off evil; pregnant young Roman women carried an egg on their persons to foretell the sex of their unborn children; French brides stepped upon an egg before crossing the threshold of their new homes.
****With the advent of Chrisianity the symbolism of the egg changed to represent, not nature's rebirth, but the rebirth of man. Christians embraced the egg symbol and likened it to the tomb from which Christ rose.
*****Old Polish legends blended folklore and Christian beliefs and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration.
******Decorating and coloring eggs for Easter was the custom in England during the middle ages.
Not very much - eggs don't have very much to do with the real deal - Resurrection Day.
But they are so lovely!
( Games and puzzles atFunschool, Kaboose,andA Kid's Heart. More information on the history of eggs and Easter found here. )
All the facts are fastinating but I'd just like to kiss the cheeks of all those little boys for I remember them exactly that way!
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