EGGS AS SYMBOLS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 10106, 7 May 1924, Page 8

EGGS AS SYMBOLS

HEN-ROOSTS RANSACKED. In France country folk preserve all the year laid on Good Friday, as it is thought they are valuable in extinguishing fires into which they may be thrown. Formerly at the approach of Easter all the hen-roosts in I ranee were ransacked for the largest eggs, which were brought as a tribute to the King, At the conclusion of the ILaster high mass in the chapel of the Louvre, says a writer in the "Bnsto Times," lackeys brought into the regal cabinet pyramids of golden eggs placed in baskets adorned with verdure, and the chaplain, having blessed them, distributed the eggs in the presence of his most Christian majesty to all the personsi about the Court. Children in Northumberlam, when first sent abroad in the arms of the nurse to visit a neighbour, are presented with an egg, some salt, and a slice of fine bread. The egg was re-; yarded as a sanctified symbol; hence its adaptation to infancy. A writer on folk-lore tells us that "An egg, containing in it the elements of life, was thought no improper emblem of the ark, in which were preserved the rudiments of the future ivorld. 'Hence in Dionusiaca, and in ! other mysteries, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in consecration of an egg. By this, as we are informed by Porphry, was signified the world. It seems to have been a favourite symbol, and very ancient, and we find it adopted among other nations. It was said by the Persians of Oromsades that he formed mankind and enclosed them in an egg." The ancient Finns regarded the egg as a sacred symbol, believing that a mystic bird laid an egg on the lap of Vaimainon, who hatched it in his bosom. He, however, let it fall into the water, and it broke. The lower portion of the shell formed the earth, the upper portion the sky, the liquid white became the sun, and the yolk the more sedate moon. There yet remained the little fragments of broken shell, which were changed into stars, and nothing was wasted. «