Ever since I was a little kid, I have often wondered why it is that we hunt Easter Eggs as children on Easter morning.  It has baffled me why this would be the tradition we choose to participate in as a celebration of Jesus’s resurrection.  So, this year I decided to do a deep dive for all of us and find out the history behind this seemingly bizarre tradition. Buckle up because this story has some twists and turns and leads to some surprises!

The practice of decorating eggshells is quite ancient!  Decorated, engraved ostrich eggs have been found in Africa which are 60,000 years old.

In the pre-dynastic period of Egypt and the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete, eggs were associated with death and rebirth, as well as with kingship, with decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 5,000 years ago.

Here is the kicker that I didn’t know about, the egg has been used as a Christian symbol for over 2000 years!  Eggs in Christianity carry a Trinitarian symbolism as shell, yolk, and albumen are three parts of one egg.  The Christian custom of Easter eggs was adopted from early Christians of Mesopotamia, who stained them with red coloring “in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at His crucifixion”.  This practice has been dated to the 4th and 5th centuries, making it one of our older Christian traditions!

Also, the Easter egg tradition may have merged into the celebration of the end of the privations of Lent. Traditionally, eggs are among the foods forbidden on fast days, including all of Lent, an observance that continues among the Eastern Christian Churches of today. In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ, with further symbolism being found in the hard shell of the egg symbolizing the sealed Tomb of Christ—the cracking of which symbolized his resurrection from the dead. The tradition of red easter eggs was used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

There is also a legend (not found in scripture) that concerns Mary Magdalene’s efforts to spread the Gospel. According to this tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with “Christ has risen,” whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and stated, “Christ has no more risen than that egg is red.” After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red (once again, this story does NOT appear in the Bible).

Jesus even mentions eggs in a lesson about how to pray to God.  In the Gospel of Luke, chapter ten, we read “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”  It is these same passages that bring us the tradition of the Lord’s Prayer that we use in the church today.  Jesus points to the key practice of approaching God and praying to God in the right way so that you may draw closer to the Lord’s presence.

So, the truth is that the tradition of Easter Eggs has been around for much longer than I could have ever imagined and that they have deep meaning within the Christian tradition.  What this also tells me is that we should be more proactive in our learning of the history behind the traditions of our churches and families because we may lose sight of the true purpose behind the practices.

This year, when you find yourself inundated with a variety of eggs, like chocolate eggs, plastic eggs, hardboiled eggs, egg salad, Reese’s eggs, and Cadbury eggs, (I could go on and on), remember that they are also all symbols of not only the empty tomb of Jesus but also the Trinity!

So go out and grab your easter basket and hunt those eggs with the knowledge of its meaning and symbolism within the Christian community!

Next week we will look at another strange symbol, the Easter Bunny, so stay tuned!

Happy Hunting!

Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston TX
Cell:  919-935-2513
Email:  pastormike@fumcfairfield.org