Christianity and the Easter Egg: What's the connection?

Many critics of Christianity claim that the original meaning and purpose of the Easter egg does has secular, and not Christian, roots. Those opposed to the faith eagerly point out the egg’s historic roots that are not grounded in Christianity. Does the Easter Egg have a religious meaning? Absolutely. Does it have a secular origin? Yes.(well, kind of)

The Easter egg has become closely associated with and entwined with the Christian traditions at Easter. There is even a version of the Easter egg called “Resurrection Eggs” that one can purchase and use to explain the story of Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection. Its historical origin is traced back to the Romans, Gauls, Chinese, Persians and Egyptians. These cultures cherished and honored the egg as a representation and symbol of the universe, not Christ. It was recognized as a symbol of earth’s rebirth and springtime.

Despite its origins being secular in nature, Christians soon adopted the Easter egg as a representation of the rebirth Christians experience when they surrender to Christ. Christians embrace the Easter egg as a symbol of the tomb and how Christ burst forth from the tomb and was resurrected to new life. In fact, it was St. Augustine who first associated the egg with the explanation of Christ’s Resurrection. St. Augustine picked up this description of the resurrection following the tradition of St. Mary Magdalene and the red egg.

The story is told that St. Mary Magdalene’s story did not end with finding the empty tomb of Jesus. Tradition holds that she continued to witness and share the resurrection of Jesus and she started using an egg to proclaim the message. This is part of the reason Christians started recognizing the Easter egg at Eastertime as a symbol of the resurrection.

According to tradition, St. Mary Magdalene was able to use her wealth and status in the society to be granted an audience with Emperor Tiberius and it is during this audience that the story of the red egg emerges. St. Mary Magdalene met with Tiberius in Rome and denounced Pilate for how he treated Jesus and how the trial was conducted. Mary told Tiberius about Jesus and His resurrection. She held out an egg in her hand and boldly proclaimed, “Christ is Risen!”

Needless to say, the Roman emperor was not in the least little bit impressed with an egg. He told Mary that there was no chance that a human being could rise from the dead and there was a higher probability that the egg in her hand could turn red before someone could rise from the dead. The egg then turned red.

The story is the reason many icons are painted in the Byzantine Catholic style reflecting St. Mary Magdalene with a red egg in her hand. St. Augustine followed this tradition by using the egg to describe Christ’s Resurrection from the dead as a chick bursting out of the eggshell. The practice of Easter egg hunting started when Christian missionaries would utilize Easter eggs to share biblical stores with children by painting the stories on the eggs and then hiding them. The children would rush around and franticly look for the eggs and then would recant the stories painted on the eggs they located. It was a fun and simple way to teach children about the significance of Easter and other Bible stories.

Happy Easter and Glory Be To God He Is Risen!