EASTER EGGS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 78, 2 April 1931, Page 10

EASTER EGGS

AND HOT CROSS BUNS

ANTIQUITY OF CUSTOMS

SOME PAGAN ORIGINS

AH the major festivities throughout the year have connected with, them curious customs which in many cases have outlived the memory of their meaning. Many of these customs had a pagan origin, but it was always the policy of the early Church to adopt- pagan customs deeply rooted in the lives of the people coming under the sway of Christianity and to give them a Christian significance. Hence Easter eggs and hot cross buns, to mention a couple- of customs much in evidence at this time of year, are really much older than Easter. In fact the eggs, as a symbol of resurrection or new life, is one of the oldest symbols extant. The form of the oval used in. this connection, is found in Egyptian hieroglyphics of several thousand years B.C. The name Easter itself is borrowed from the Anglo-Saxons, who, at the time of the vernal or spring equinox, honoured a deity called Eastre. This was a festival of joy at the renewed springing into life of the earth after winter. Connected with it were the lighting of bonfires and other rites, to all of which the Christian Fathers gave a new significance. Bonfires gave place to lighted tapers in the churches —Paschal candles —some of which in tho early days are reputed to have weighed as much as 3001b. The exchange of eggs the Fathers adapted to Christian ideas, and the Paschal or Easter egg became prominent amongst Easter customs. The Russians, besides exchanging, eggs at Easter time, used also to liberate caged birds as emblematic of the freedom and liberty resulting to tho human race from the Resurrection. BLESSING THE EGGS. Easter eggs are significant of a future life, of a re-birth and of a creation. A ceremonial blessing of eggs took place in the churches before the Reformation. These eggs were often inscribed with the names of those who were to receive theiu. The •monks followed an old custom of offering gifts of "peace eggs" to friends, neighbours, or strangers on the morning of Easter Day, with the blessing of "Pax Vobiseum." When feudalism was rampant in. England the lord of the manor matte it, a custom to supply "peace eggs" for sports trophies, and boys in the North of England still beg for eggs on Easter Eve for prizes. Eggs were plentiful and cheap in the reign of Edward 11., for it is recorded in one of the household pay sheets that one and sixpence was expended for purchasing four hundred eggs for Easter gifts. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians invented games in which eggs hard boiled and coloured played an important part in the day's festivities. Each colour had its own special meaning. Red anid purple symbolised the Crucifixion; -white, yellow, and blue were the ceremonial colours of the Jews and other nations. The association of fish with Easter deals with primitive times. The five initial letters of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, vhen combined form the Greek word for fish." This ancient cryptogram may still be seen in the needlework of old-fashioned altar cloths in rural churches' in different parts of England and on the Continent. THE FIRST BUNS. Joy and feasting and dancing has always been associated with the Easter festival, and against' this general holiday feeling the Reformers were in-' clined to set their faces. But food and festivals have always been inseparably linked. Good Friday's hot cross bun has a connection with the Jewish unleavened breall eaten at the time of the Passover. ' The name "bun" comes from the Greek word "baurn," a ceremonial cake, highly spiead and flavoured and popular in ancient times at wedding feasts and other high festivals, in honour of tlae moon, a pagan deity, and to whom they gave the title of "Queen of the Heavens." The "bun" was made with flour and honey, mixed to a stiff pasta to form a dough, and it was marked "with two horns in honour of their sacsrificial ox. Among the ruins of PompeK.ioaves marked in this way were found, in some of the ovens. The early Christians borrowed this custom and marked their buns with a cross as an emblem of their faith. Tho "Simnel cake" is another Easter dish still popular in different parts of England. The original cakes were steamed for several hours, then baked. The story goes tiiat Simon and his wife Nell had an argument over the method of cooking. In the end both methods were. adopted. The real origin of the cake dates from the 13th century, when it was the custom, for young people to visit their parents on the fourth Sunday in Lent, oc "mothering Sunday," taking with theifl. a cake. OLD !CIME LORE. There are otjuer customs connected with Easter. Old-fashioned people think it lucky to wear something new on Easter Sunday. A well-known rhyme says: At Easter left your clothes be new, Or else be sure you. will it rue. The following lißjies belong to an ancient weather Thyme:->-If it rains on CJ«od Friday and Easter Day, There'll be plenty of grass and some very fine hajy. Much moro migjit be instanced as survivals of EasteK customs in different parts of the world. As long as the holiday connected wiffh. Easter survives, so long are likely to survive these old customs, although, their real *ignificanco has long a£{o been lost.