A FRAGILE CONTAINER FOR A NEW LIFE, the egg was always going to be the perfect emblem of spring returning. Engravings on 60,000-year-old remains of ostrich eggs in South Africa, probably used as water carriers, show that egg decoration is more than 30 times older than Easter itself. The Christian tradition is thought to have grown with the religion’s earliest following in the Middle East and Egypt, where eggs had a symbolic importance that easily transferred to the story of the Resurrection.
Much of the history of Easter eggs – as well as the name ‘Easter’ itself – is sketchy. An Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn called Eostre is ofen said to be the source of the holiday’s English name, but she is mentioned only once in records. The biologically dubious Easter pairing of eggs with furry, hopping creatures has a firmer basis in tradition. Hares have long been a spring symbol, thanks to their heroic breeding abilities. The idea of them dispensing eggs from baskets, or hiding them for children to find, came from Germany. Easter bunnies aren’t universally liked: in Australia, campaigners want to replace this representative of an introduced pest with an endangered-native lookalike, the Easter bilby.
THE PAINTED EGG