, 1872-04-11
THE WEEKLY ARGUS
THURsDAY, APRIL II. 1879.
The origin Of Easter Eggs.


The egg is found in the earliest tradi-
tions of the human race. According to
the Hindoos It was from an egg that the
Supreme Being emansted the egg hav-
ing been split in two parts, the top be-
came heaven, the bottom earth, and Of the
contents man was tormed-such is the
eist of these old traditions. As symbol
Il meant birth out of death, new life in
the mysterious future! And thus it is
readily perceived how the egg became in
Christian times an emblem Of the resurec-
tion, and why it passed and still passes
from hand to hand at Easter. The
ancient Egyptians ate eggs, with thank
full heart. at the festival Of the god who
recorded the final sentence Of the judge OF
the dead; and a section Of the Christian
world ate eggs at Easter in thankfulness
TO God for the resurrection of the Savior.
The Jews, Greeks, Romans and other
ancient peoples used the eggs in their reli.
gious ceremonies. India has for years had
a myth of the egg and the serpent, or
agathodaimon Japan of the egg and the
bull Syria of the egg and the lunar cresc'
ent, and similar myths exist elsewhere.
Thus it is clear the symbolism Of the
egg is not confined to any particular
people or creed. Nor is the custom Of
presenting eggs at Easter peculiar to
Christian lands. For example, at the
New Years feast of Persia, the inter-
change of eggs, coioFed red, yellow, and
sky-blu6.f formed an Indispensable, part Of
the ceremonies of the day. In the Greek
and Roman churches the observance has
been popular from an early period and
there can be no doubt that the OLD practice
once common in our isles was derived
from the Roman Church before we ceased
to be connected with it as a nation. At
Easter, in several parts of England, par
ticularly in the north, boys still stain eggs
by boiling them in log-wood, furz bloom,
= flowers, herbs, and ribbons. These they
call pace, paste, or pask (yascha) eggs.
They play at bowls with them in the fields,
or at "egging "a game in which eggs
held in the hand are knocked one against
the other, the boy who first cracks shell
claiming the egg. Both these games are
now very popular in the United States.
In Italy and the Fatherlaad the children
are specially entertained with eggs. Nests,
made with moss, are filed with eggs and
secreted in garden or house, and the chil>
dreu, on a given signal, begin an exciting
search for them. In Germany the little
ones ars sent out to look for the eggs the
hare has laid--a stuffed hare being gem
orally placed in the nest instead of hen.
We know that the hare goes mad in
March, but here we have modern version
of another old Eastern tradition. The
Russians have long celebrated Easter with
great rejOicings, and the egg is to them
Significantly typical of what they COM
memorate. Everybody from noblest to
meanest carries some eggs, colored or
gilded, which are presented with the for
NAL salutation, IS 'Christ is risen." Hak-
luyt says that the Russian gentlemen and
gentlewomen used to do this for, g a great
love-" and that they exchanged their eggs,
and continued kissing, " four days to-
gsther." Why Easter eggs are so popular
10 Russia is easily accounted for, but it
will be long before we can hope to arrive
at such a state of things at Easter in this
country.-LoAdOn Graphic.