EGGS AS SYMBOLS

Evening Post, Issue 88, 12 April 1924, Page 16

EGGS AS SYMBOLS

HEN-EOOSTS EANSACKED FOE TBD3UTE.

In France country folk preserve all the year eggs 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 faster all the hen-roosts in France were ransacked for tho largest eggs i which were brought as a tribute to' the Kmg. At the conclusion -of the Easter high, mass in the chapel of. the Louvre says a writer, in the "Bristol Times" lackeys bronght into tho regal cabinet pyramids of golden eggs placed in baskets adorned, with verduYe, and the chaplain having .blessed them, distributed the eggs in the presence of his most Christian majesty to all the persons about the Court. , ,■':. .'_ . Children in . 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 regarded as a sac^ red symbol; hence its adaptation to in-' ■fancy. . :• ... ■ " -, ;■;■ ' . . . , A writer on folk-lore' tells us that , An egg, containing in it the elements of hfe, was thought no improper emblem of the ark, m which were preserved the rudiments of the future world. 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 Oromasdes 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'jnto the water, and it-broke. The lower portion | of the shell formed the earth, tho 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 no thins was wasted. ;