The Egg-cellence: The Easter Egg

With the Easter season hopping around the corner, it is the perfect time for egg-related themes. Whether you are a want-to-be Lara Croft exploring ancient civilizations, or an outdoor person doing the Easter activities with your family, there is something here to read for you.

The Significance of the Easter Egg

Nowadays, Easter eggs are associated with new life, rebirth, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, some customs are associated with paganism predating Christianity, and the welcoming of the spring.  Eggs were a forbidden food during Lent, so people would just decorate and paint the eggs to mark the end of the fasting period, and eat them on Easter.

Ancient Civilizations and the Eggs

The tradition of giving eggs at Easter has been traced back to the Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks, and Romans, for whom the egg was a symbol of life.

Eggs in Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, eggs held a symbolic meaning, representing creation, rebirth, and the cycle of life. They were used in religious rituals and even featured in funerary texts, with decorated ostrich eggs found in tombs.

Ancient Egyptians developed a unique system of egg ovens for hatching chickens, which were considered more efficient than modern methods. These ovens were large, mud-brick structures with chambers for holding eggs and a fire for heating them. Some ovens were capable of hatching up to 300,000 chickens per season.

Eggs in Medieval Times

In medieval times, the church organized a festival of egg throwing. The priest threw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choirboys. The choirboys would toss the egg from one boy to another.  The boy who held the egg when the clock struck 12, was the winner.

Modern Traditions around Easter Time

There are a few popular Easter traditions to try, such as decorating eggs, egg hunt, egg rolling, and giving chocolate eggs.

The tradition of decorating eggs, especially with red symbolizes the blood of Christ, and it is an ancient practice.

Easter Egg Hunts are a popular tradition, with the hidden eggs representing the empty tomb and the joy of discovery symbolizing the resurrection.

Giving chocolate eggs is rather a modern tradition that became popular in the 19th century and continues to be a favorite Easter treat. The interesting fact is that the world’s largest chocolate Easter egg was made by Italian chocolatier Tosca in April 16, 2011. It was weighing 15,873 lbs ( 7,199.9 kg) and with a circumference of circa 64 ft (19.5 m) at its widest point.

Dear Akademos Students, We wish you Happy Easter!

Vocabulary

Egg-cellence – is  a word play combining egg and excellence

Lara Croft  – a female character in a popular movie called Tomb Raider, played by Angelina Jolie

hop – move by jumping on one foot (skok, kic)

rebirth – the process of being reincarnated or born again (odrodzenie)

resurrection – the act or fact of bringing someone back to life, or bringing something back into use or existence (Zmartwychwstanie)

paganism – a religion other than one of the main world religions, specifically a non-Christian or pre-Christian religion (pogaństwo)

Lent – in the Christian religion, the 40 days before Easter, a period during which, for religious reasons, some people stop doing particular things that they enjoy  (Wielki Post)

funerary – relating to or used at a funeral or burial. It’s a formal word often used to describe objects, rituals, or places associated with death and remembrance (pogrzebowy)

ostrich – a flightless swift-running African bird with a long neck, long legs, and two toes on each foot. It is the largest living bird, with males reaching an average height of 8 feet (2.5 m) (struś)

hatch – to (cause an egg to) break to allow a young animal to come out (wykluwać się)

oven – the part of a stove with a door, used to bake or roast food  (piec)

hard-boiled – a hard-boiled egg has been heated in its shell in boiling water until both the white and yellow parts are solid (na twardo)

choirboy – a boy who sings in a church choir  (chłopiec z chóru)

strike – bells ring to show what the time is (tu: wybić godzinę)

circumference – the line surrounding a circular space, or the length of this line (obwód)