Working in the greetings industry, I have always been curious as to the origins of such traditions and thought I would have a hunt around to find out where this activity began and why. Having looked around I have found that there are strong symmetries between each religious, cultural or folklore origins of this holiday. The season of spring itself has always been characterised by the symbol of an egg (a new beginning) but the symbol is also used by Christians to symbolise the resurrection.
On researching via the internet, I found countless explanations for the origins of the egg-hunt. The most interesting of these explanations are:
- This is a derivative of the German tradition of Osterhase in which German children believed that an Easter hare layed eggs in baskets that were left outside of their houses. The tradition was taken to America and evolved from there.
- That this activity began with the rise of Christianity. I found two opposing stories implicating Pagans and Christians of persecution of the other. The stories suggest that as the religion (Paganism or Christianity) was looked down upon, people practised traditions in secret (as eggs are symbols of both then it is hard to work out which version of the story is true) and therefore instead of exchanging eggs, they buried them, to be found by their loved ones. Members of the opposing religion realised this and began to bribe children to seek out the eggs in order to find out who was practising so that they would then be subject to persecution.
Egg hunting now takes places across the globe by people who are perhaps unaware of its origins. This, along with the vast array of Easter traditions that are practised over the world, which now includes sending Easter e cards, brings great joy, especially to children. In years to come, will we still be engaging in these wonderful activities or will they have evolved into something else?
Katie x
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