Imagine, you are a French child living in the early 1800s. It is almost Easter and you are really excited. Your parents promised you a special gift to celebrate Easter and you can't wait to find out what it will be. You have heard that some of the chocolatiers have been working on creating eggs to celebrate the day, and you hope you will receive one. You love the beautiful carved and coloured eggs you usually receive, but chocolate is so delicious, and such a rare treat!
When I took these egg shaped moulds to show the children, they found them very interesting. Many of the children love Easter, and the chocolate associated with it, but hadn't really thought a great deal about the history of Easter or indeed of the Easter Eggs they love. They found the moulds surprising. Not only did they encourage the children to think more about the history of one of their favourite holiday treats, they were very different to chocolate moulds they see today. These moulds are metal and really are very heavy, especially when compared to the lightweight plastic ones we see today. The moulds are also quite probably made of lead, which the children found really interesting. After all, they know that lead is poisonous and when I bring things which might be made of lead they have to handle them with gloves on. The thought of using lead as a 'cooking utensil' seemed very strange to them and really helped drive home the fact that what we know as 'poisonous' today was often regularly used and even ingested in the past.
According to many, Easter itself grew out of pagan ritual, though there seems to be a lot of debate about this. Certainly, Christians were known to adopt earlier traditions in their own festivals, and we know that some of their religious occasions coincide with earlier pagan ones and Easter does fall near pagan celebrations of the Spring Equinox. Regardless of whether Easter coincides with a pagan holiday though, we know that some pagan symbols and traditions predating Christianity were adopted as Easter symbols and traditions. Easter Eggs are one such symbol. In ancient times, and in many ancient cultures, the egg was a symbol of rebirth, fertility and beginning. In fact, eggs are found in many ancient tombs. Sometimes they are actual eggs and in others they have been sculpted from clay, stone and even jewels. There are many stories which give symbolism to eggs, from the Hindu scriptures which say the world was born from an egg to the classic symbol of renewal, the phoenix, which is sometimes said to be reborn from an egg and at other times to embalm the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh. Eggs were commonly left as offerings for gods and even gifted to friends and family on birthdays and at the beginning of each New Year. Even the idea of painting eggs predates Christ. In the Ukraine it is very traditional to paint eggs for Easter, but this tradition goes right back to pagan times when painted eggs were involved in spring rituals. Eggs were also involved in spring rituals in other countries, including in the British Isles.
Christians adopted the egg as a symbol of Christ's rebirth quite early on, though chocolate Easter eggs didn't appear until hundreds of years later. According to some Orthodox Christian Churches, Mary Magdalene gave the Roman Emperor Tiberius the first ever Easter Egg. She was coming to Rome to preach and tradition demanded she give a gift to the emperor. She gave him a humble, white egg and told him 'Christ has risen' but he didn't believe her, saying the egg would turn red before anyone could rise from the dead. Of course the egg instantly turned red and for Orthodox Christians, eggs have symbolised Christ's rebith ever since. Originally, Easter eggs were simply birds eggs, usually from chickens or ducks, decorated and painted. Roy dyed some eggs with onion skins last Easter, and you can find out how to do this by clicking here. Eventually though, people started manufacturing other eggs. Some were made of wood and others from clay or stone. In the 17th century egg shaped toys started to be made to celebrate Easter and the Victorians had egg shaped boxes which they filled with Easter gifts or chocolates. The most beautiful of Easter Eggs were made by Faberge in the late 1800s for the Russian Royalty, and these were made of precious stones and metals. You can see some of the eggs by clicking here. Chocolate eggs though didn't start to appear until the early 1800s, when chocolatiers in France and Germany worked out how to cast solid eggs from chocolate. Hollow eggs appeared later. If you would like to learn more about the history of Easter and Easter Eggs click here or here.
