what does egg have to do with Christ??

Question

who in there right mind would want to decorate egg on the day jesus came back to life!!!

Answer 1

Because it's stolen from the Pagan Holiday "Eastre" - wiki it.

Answer 2

The tradition of the egg comes from two sources. First, it comes from the Jewish Passover. Once the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed in 70AD, the Jewish were no longer able to offer the Passover lambs. So instead they replaced the lamb with a hard boiled egg. (I have yet to find a reasonable explaination why). As many early Christians continued to practice the Passover for about 100 to 150 years of the early church, they also picked up the egg as a substitution for the Passover Lamb. The colored of such an egg on the day of the Resurrection was seen as a celebration of Christ's resurrection.

Also, the egg has long been a symbol of life, and so has come to represent the new life to which Christ rose. That is why it is colored as a celebration. So even to those unfamiliar with Passover, the egg could still be used as a symbol of the Resurrection. Traditional eggs were colored red as a rememder of the blood of Christ, and given to each other as a greeting on "Easter".

So while it has no solid Bible basis for using an egg, there are some logical traditions through which it came to be a part of "Easter".

Answer 3

Well, let's say the week before - usually decorating isn't done on Easter.

Easter eggs have nothing to do with Christ *other than* it is a tradition to have them as decoration on the celebration of Christ's resurrection.

The answerer who mentioned "Eostre" was correct, but notice that no prayers or homage (or usually even thought) is given to Eostre by egg-decorating Christians. It *was* a pagan symbol, but *is no longer* used as such, at least not by Christians.

So, "who in their right mind..."

I would say the same people that barbecue or watch fireworks on July fourth.

The same people that give presents on Christmas.

The same people that stay up until midnight on New Years Eve.

The same people that watch the Indy 500 on memorial day.

Traditions associated with holidays (or Holy Days) do not necessarily have to be *relevant* to those days. Obviously.

Jim

Answer 4

Eggs are a symbol of fertility, as are rabbits. Easter is just the "christianized" spring fertility ritual that has been practiced for thousands of years before the time of Christ, and was originally dedicated to the Goddess Ostara.

The church knew they couldn't get rid of the holiday, so they just bastardized it instead, and tried to co-opt it into one of their own festivals.

Eggs and rabbits have nothing to do with Christ, but neither do most of the current "religious" holidays, like Christmas, which used to be called Saturnalia, a 12 day feast and orgy celebrated by the Romans (that's where we get the 12 days of Christmas).

Answer 5

The egg represents the rebirth of spring, a pagan festival of new beginnings mixed with the cult of Dionysus, who was slain and rose again reborn. The Jesus lot got mixed up in there at some point.

Answer 6

An egg doesn't have anything to do with Christ, it is a generic symbol for the rebirth of springtime...instead of celebrating a religious holiday- the egg, bunny, flowers, bonnets- all symbolize springtime. It is a non religious way to celebrate a Christian holiday.

Answer 7

Kittie, like everybody is telling you, it's all pagan. It all has to do with pagan holidays and spring and procreation etc. Chickens, rabbits and whatnot??
The emperor Augustus Caesar made it a practice to try and incorporate the locals religious customs in his rule. Made for an easier peace?
Christianity carried on the tradition?

Answer 8

Well....the millions of Eastern Orthodox Christians do it...

During Easter Day (they call it Pascha) - the egg stands as symbol of the resurrection of Christ, and is universally used as means of Christian greeting and present. The symbolical and church significance of the egg has its roots in the greatest antiquity. Long before Christianity, all the cultured nations of antiquity held the egg to be the symbol of life in all their beliefs and customs. According to heathen cosmogonies, the original world’s chaos was contained in an egg, which broke into two halves, the one forming the sky and the other the earth.

With Christianity, the old belief receives new contents, and the egg receives a religious significance amongst the Christians. There exisits a tradition which makes Mary Magdalene to be the originator of the custom of using red eggs on Easter day. After the Ascension of our Saviour, Mary Magdalene went to Rome to preach the Gospel and, appearing before the Emporer Tiberius, she offered him a red egg, saying: CHRIST IS RISEN.” Thus was begun her preaching. Learning about this offering of Mary Magdalene, the early Christians imitated her, presenting each other with eggs. Hence, eggs began to be used by Christians in the earliest centuries as a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ and of the regeneration of Christians for a new and a better life along [with] it. The custom of presenting each other with red eggs was familiar to the Christians of the earliest Universal Church.

The red color, which generally is used for Easter eggs, serves to remind us of the precious blood of God the Redeemer, which was shed on the cross for the salvation of all men.

The blessing of the eggs takes place after the morning Easter service. The breaking of the lenten fasting on Easter Sunday begins with eating the blessed eggs.

Answer 9

It doesn't the very origin of the egg and Easter are pagan there's more than one pagan worship one is Ishtar the worship of the sun Goddess....I don't celebrate Easter I think it;s more about money changing then anything that has to do with the kingdom of God!

Answer 10

The egg is tradition.

Go to any church on easter and you won't find the pastor saying anything about the egg...