Happy Easter everyone! I'm excited for the day tomorrow.
I was wondering if anyone will participate in any Easter activities this year? Maybe you attend Church or spend time with relatives or friends, listen to spiritual music or light a candle at night.
There will be some gift-giving in my household, and I'll cook a nice family dinner. I have a lot to be thankful for, my dad had a surgery earlier this year, and came through that fine, my uncle got covid, but is well now, and even my pet dog had to have biopsy, and also got good results, so I have a little angel on my side through these difficult times. I made sure to give something back to charity too this week because it seemed right to help others who aren't as fortunate.
Something seperate I have purchased just to celebrate the holiday ocassion are these foodstuffs.
One of the Easter traditions I grew up with was dying hard-boiled eggs different colors during the holiday, decorating them and going on Easter egg hunts with the other kids. I am vegan now, so I don't eat the actual eggs anymore, but still wanted to find a way to bring a little Easter fun into my home, so I bought these beautifully-decorated chocolate candy eggs. They remind me a little bit of marzipan and Fabergé eggs. These guys are so pretty that I almost don't want to eat them tomorrow, I love the pastel colors and different patterns made with the icing like the Lily of the Valley. They smell so scrumptious too! I keep sniffing the box.
As a kid I didn't know exactly why we did this practice during Easter, I just knew that I had fun, and it's been interesting for me to research some of the history and religious symbolism it contains. The egg has always been a symbol of new life in different cultures since Antiquity. In Zoroastrianism, which influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, eggs were (and still are) painted in Spring time to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian new year, which is a holiday still recognized today in Iran, and by many peoples all over the world in places like Afghanistan and Cyprus. The Kurds in Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Armenia have it, some Indian Muslims, the Crimean Tartars, Shia Muslims in Bangladesh and Pakistan and many more of our brothers and sisters the world over. Since Christianity comes out of the middle east it makes sense that we inherit some of these cultural traditions in little ways.
In Christianity eggs took on a new meaning, and came to represent the empty tomb of Jesus after the ressurection, particularly because you crack open the egg. In particular I learned of some stories in Eastern Orthodoxy about eggs turning red after the the crucifixion, and to this day Orthodox communities in places like Ukraine and Greece use red colorants to signify the blood of martyrdom and sacrifice, when they make their Easter eggs.
