Many ancient symbols were given new meanings by Christianity, in a process now known as "inculturation." In other cases, the fact that the same symbols were adopted is purely coincidence, and a few of the most common Easter symbols are among them. For instance, the coloring of Easter eggs. There are two purely Christian stories behind this. In one, a woman was explaining the Resurrection to a pagan, who scoffed and retorted that the Resurrection was as likely as the egg she was holding to turn red. Barely were the words out of his mouth when the shell of the egg indeed turned red, which is why the Orthodox gift others with red eggs. Another reminds us that there was a time when Lent involved abstinence from ALL animal products, forty days of a completely vegan diet. What to do with all those eggs that the hens kept laying? They hard-boiled them so they would keep (hard-boiled eggs can keep literally for months, no matter what the government health and safety agencies would have you believe). Then, since all those eggs were just sitting around in bowls and baskets, they decided to decorate them in order to have something festive to serve on Easter, once the Lenten days of abstinence were over. The Easter basket originated among medieval Christians, who would gather the preserved foods that they were not allowed to eat during Lent, and bring them to church on the day before Easter to have them blessed; then those items would be made into the Easter feast. That's why today's Easter baskets contain candy, which is the most common thing for children to give up during Lent.
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Just thought it would be nice to reintroduce some forgotten meanings into the mix! ;D
Many ancient symbols were given new meanings by Christianity, in a process now known as "inculturation." In other cases, the fact that the same symbols were adopted is purely coincidence, and a few of the most common Easter symbols are among them. For instance, the coloring of Easter eggs. There are two purely Christian stories behind this. In one, a woman was explaining the Resurrection to a pagan, who scoffed and retorted that the Resurrection was as likely as the egg she was holding to turn red. Barely were the words out of his mouth when the shell of the egg indeed turned red, which is why the Orthodox gift others with red eggs. Another reminds us that there was a time when Lent involved abstinence from ALL animal products, forty days of a completely vegan diet. What to do with all those eggs that the hens kept laying? They hard-boiled them so they would keep (hard-boiled eggs can keep literally for months, no matter what the government health and safety agencies would have you believe). Then, since all those eggs were just sitting around in bowls and baskets, they decided to decorate them in order to have something festive to serve on Easter, once the Lenten days of abstinence were over. The Easter basket originated among medieval Christians, who would gather the preserved foods that they were not allowed to eat during Lent, and bring them to church on the day before Easter to have them blessed; then those items would be made into the Easter feast. That's why today's Easter baskets contain candy, which is the most common thing for children to give up during Lent.
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Just thought it would be nice to reintroduce some forgotten meanings into the mix! ;D