What’s the Deal with Painting the Eggs at Easter?

Believe it or not Ester is right around the corner.  Although Easter is not seen as a major holiday like Christmas it is still very important to a lot of people.  If you are a Christian it is the day that you will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after he was crucified.  But here's my question; what the heck does that have to do with painting eggs?

Growing up Easter was one of my favorite holidays.  I loved the egg hunts, the hidden baskets, and of course the big family gathering with tons of delicious food.  One thing I was never big on, however, was painting Easter eggs.  I think this was due to the fact that I was not a very artistic kid and being color blind would always throw a wrench into my painting attempts.

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Back then I just thought painting eggs was something you did to celebrate the holiday and that was it.  As I got older I started wondering what the coloration was between painting eggs and Jesus' resurrection.  It makes no sense.  Well, I have recently found out what the connections are and I have to say it's pretty cool.

Painting Easter eggs dates back to the early 13th century (early 1200s in case you want to know the years).  However, it is also believed that the Pagans decorated eggs much earlier than that to celebrate the coming of spring.  So, the Christians put their spin on this by having the egg (a symbol of new life) represent the tomb where Jesus was laid in after he was killed.  The painting of the egg is said to have started because at one point eggs were considered a forbidden food during the Lenten season.  So, to celebrate the end of Lent the eggs were painted and then eaten on Easter.  Who knew?!

Now you can impress all your friends and family at your Easter gathering this year with your newfound knowledge of the Easter egg.  Just give me a little bit of the credit, okay?

Source: History.com