Here’s What Eggs Have To Do With Easter

Easter is somehow synonymous with eggs: chocolate eggs, Easter egg hunts, candy eggs, dyed eggs. But have you ever wondered why the egg is so symbolic of the Easter holiday?

It all starts with the belief of eggs symbolizing new life and rebirth. This belief then lead folks to give eggs as gifts to celebrate the arrival of the spring season, which eventually became aligned with Easter over time.

The occasion of Easter developed within Christian tradition over the years, with its preparatory period, known as Lent, doing so as well. Fasting and later abstinence from certain foods, such as meat and eggs, became a part of Lenten traditions, as it is done as a sacrifice by many on Good Friday to align with how Jesus sacrificed his flesh for humanity.

Since there is abstinence from eggs and meat during Lent, eating one on Easter Sunday was considered special. This practice later evolved to include chocolate Easter eggs, with Fry’s being the first to sell them in 1873, and were made using dark chocolate.

Later in 1897, Cadbury came along and made a milk chocolate version of Easter eggs, which proved to be a hit, as the popularity of the milk chocolate eggs soon became the more prevalent version even until today.

So if you find yourself munching on a chocolate Easter egg this season, know that it all started from some poignant symbolism of new beginnings.