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Easter EggsEaster eggs are specially decorated eggs given out to celebrate the Easter holiday. Of all the symbols associated with Easter, the egg, the symbol of new life, is the most identifiable. The customs and traditions of using eggs have been associated with Easter for centuries. There are many decoration techniques and numerous traditions of giving them as a token of friendship, love or good wishes.
The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chickens eggs, but a general modern custom is to substitute eggs made from any form of confectionery such as hollow chocolate eggs wrapped in brightly-colored foil. Some are delicately constructed of spun sugar and pastry decoration techniques. The Easter egg tradition may have celebrated the end of the privations of Lent. Eggs were forbidden during Lent, so people were forced to hard boil the eggs that the chickens produced so that they would keep longer. People began coloring and decorating the eggs. When boiling hard-cooked eggs, color can be achieved by boiling the eggs with various herbs or flowers - for example, onion skin produces a beautiful terracotta color. In many countries, eggs were dyed red for joy, and in memory of Christ’s blood. Egg-related games also evolved like egg tossing and egg rolling. Egg rolling contests came to America from England, possibly as a reminder of the stone being rolled away. The rules of an Easter Egg Roll are to see who can roll an egg the greatest distance or can make the roll without breaking it, usually down a grassy hillside or slope. Maybe the most famous egg rolling takes place on the White House Lawn. Hundreds of children come with baskets filled with brightly decorated eggs and roll them down the famous lawn, hoping the President of the United States is watching the fun. Easter eggs are often hidden, supposedly by the Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning. On Easter morning the children of the house join in a search to locate the eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden while they where asleep. The searching might continue though out the house with the older children helping the youngest.
also see: Egg Coloring Egg Ornaments
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