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Welcome to Our Spring Celebrations
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Pagan Beginnings
The term Easter comes from the Old English eastre or easter meaning a Festival of Spring; the Greek and Latin Pascha from the Hebrew Pesah (Passover).
According to Bede, an ancient historian, the name Easter derives from the name Eostre, the Germanic goddess of spring and the dawn. He stated that the Anglo-Saxons in Great Britain venerated her. There is, however, little evidence to support either claim.
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The symbol of the Easter egg takes us back to some of the oldest known civilisations on earth where the egg played an important part in mythical accounts of the creation of the world. One creation story tells of heaven and earth being formed from the two halves of a mysterious World-Egg. The Easter egg became associated with this World-Egg, the original germ from which all life proceeds, and whose shell is the firmament.
From ancient times, the pagan peoples of Europe and Asia held their spring festivals, re-enacting regeneration myths and performing magical and religious ceremonies to make the crops grow and prosper.
The egg, which miraculously bursts forth with life, was therefore identified with this time of year and was believed to have special powers.
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Easter Eggs
The Romans, Gauls, Chinese, Egyptians and Persians all cherished the egg as a symbol of the universe. To the early pagans, converted to "Christianity" under Emperor Constantine's rule, eggs seemed the obvious symbol of the Lord's resurrection and were therefore considered "holy" and appropriate gifts at Easter time. As Christianity spread around the world the egg came to symbolise not just nature's rebirth, but the rebirth of man.
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Old Eastern European legends blended folklore and Christian beliefs and firmly attached the egg to the Easter celebration. One legend tells of the time that the Virgin Mary gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross to entreat them to be less cruel. As she wept her tears fell upon the eggs, causing them to turn brilliant shades of colour.
Another legend tells that when Mary Magdalen went to the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus she had with her a basket of eggs. When she arrived at the tomb and uncovered the eggs the pure white shells had miraculously taken on a rainbow of colours.
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Easter Egg Decorations
The most famous example of decorated Easter eggs were the Faberge Eggs. From 1870 until 1918, Peter Faberge designed eggs of gold, silver and precious gems for European and Russian royalty. Those
eggs are now valued as priceless works of art found only in museums and private collections.
The lavish decoration of Easter eggs had begun in England, during the Middle Ages when members of royal families gave one another gold-covered eggs as Easter gifts. The household accounts of Edward I, for the year 1290, recorded an expenditure of eighteen pence for four hundred and fifty eggs to be gold-leafed and coloured for Easter gifts.
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However, from ancient times eggs had been dyed, exchanged and shown reverence. Eggs were coloured or gilded, and given at the Pre-Christian spring festivals as symbols of the rebirth of life after the long "death" of winter. Long before the Christian era, eggs were regarded as symbols of continuing life and resurrection.
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URL:http://www.markings.bc.ca
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Produced and Directed by Markings.
All written non-ascribed contents © Markings
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E-mail me at sher@markings.bc.ca 
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