The crosses some Christians get on Ash Wednesday? Sure! Lent, which is meant to mimic Jesus’ 40 days in the desert? Great!
Both of those Paschal traditions make sense to me, given the religious basis they’re built on.
But looking at my own chocolate Easter egg, which contains Eton mess truffles and boasts a “crunchy biscuit shell,” I can’t help but think: “None of these words are in the Bible.”
Not that that’s a problem, of course – I don’t mind that my Christmas tree and 24-pack of Ferrero Rocher have little to do with the holiday’s origins, after all.
It’s just, why eggs? And why chocolate eggs, in particular?
It’s to do with resurrection
Per English Heritage, one possible reason might be that “Eggs represent new life and rebirth.”
After all, for Christians, Lent and Easter are traditionally about the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Additionally, Medieval Christians were banned from eating eggs in the 40 days leading up to Easter (Lent).
Therefore, eggs were often given to people as a means of celebrating the end of the period, just as pancakes came to be eaten on Shrove Tuesday, before Lent begins.
“Even royals got involved – in 1290, Edward I purchased 450 eggs, which were decorated with colours or gold leaf and given out to his household,” English Heritage adds.
Then, dyed and hard-boiled ‘pace eggs’ came about in the 1700s and were given as Easter presents.
They were used for egg-rolling races (which may be linked to the rolling of the stone from Jesus’ tomb) or as gifts for actors in “pace egg plays.”
Okay. So why chocolate?
None of this explains why cocoa-based versions of the symbol became so popular, though.
Thankfully, no less than the government’s Companies House site has answers: “Chocolate eggs are said to have originated in France and Germany in the early 19th century but here in the UK it was J. S. Fry & Sons Limited who produced the first chocolate egg in 1873,” they write.
The Bristol-based company patented a method for steam-rolling cocoa beans, making mass production of chocolate possible.
Cadbury’s, which later merged with Fry’s and eventually overtook them in Easter egg sales, came up with their own version of the Easter egg two years later in 1875.
Then came Rowntree’s in 1904 and Mars in 1987.
As for why the sugary treats eventually overtook the tradition of regular eggs, well, we have no clear reason – except for the fact that we all know which kind we’d rather receive on the festive day.
#Eat #Eggs #Easter
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