As I am writing this the Easter, according
to Orthodox Christian denominations that follow the Julian calendar ( old )
approaches. In fact, the Easter is
tomorrow ( 12th April 2015th ).
So I decided to write a little something
about the tradition of dying/coloring
eggs, in Christian tradition, and hopefully to help dispel that silly,
urban myth; how it’s a Pagan tradition.
Not because I have anything against Pagans, for the record; I have Pagan
friends, but because I loathe the New- Age trend of watering down the
tradition, and mixing up and confusing facts. On top of all New Agers and
Neo-pagans then proceed to insist how it’s The (!!!) Truth, when in fact is just
their own misinterpretation. In a very belligerent, and I must add spamming
fashion, parroting their nonsense ad nauseum, in hope that a thousand times
repeated lie will become just like the truth.
One of the bluntest examples is related to
the tradition of egg dying around Easter. Claiming that it’s related to old
Germanic deity Eostre, or Ostara and Spring Equinox, they are in fact trying to
appropriate, and claim authorship over such archetypical symbols such as
spring, egg, rebirth, red color etc. It’s beyond reductive, absurd, and
unfounded.
Egg symbolism,
and dying eggs traditions
First off, egg is not a Pagan symbol,
because as a symbol, it predates any organized religion. Monotheistic and
polytheistic. Dyed eggs have been found in prehistorical graves, alluding most
likely to early perception even among the prehistoric human, of egg, as a
symbol of life, and vitality.
The unearthed shells were often dyed with
either red ochre, or blood, in the territory of what it’s now modern Ukraine,
for example. [1]
Eggs have reportedly been decorated (
usually Ostrich eggs ) in Africa since
the dawn of human, there.
Egyptians have been dying eggs, mostly for
use in their funerary rites, as early as 5000 years BC.
Zoroastrian religious people have dyed eggs,
on their New Year, Nowruz, which falls around Spring Equinox [2] . Another practice of egg dying that predates
Eostre cult. In fact, it’s noteworthy to mention that the first written records
about Eostre, date back to the eight century AC ( Bede ) [3] while the
Christians have been celebrating the Easter as early as from the 2nd
century AC. Hence, all the, extremely spurious symbolism and egg myths
associated with Eostre, at least in written records form, came much later.
To sum up, symbolism of the egg is
universal, so the egg is no more pagan in origin than the wheel or fire.
Egg is a universal symbol of creation,
sometimes the thing from which the life emerged; vegetative, Divine, or
chthonic. Worldwide, it’s a symbol of affection, happiness, opulence, health,
birth and resurrection. It’s also
associated with the springtime. In the Hebrew tradition, it’s a symbol of
promise. [4]
Finally, it’s also a symbol of Cosmic Egg,
or Brahamanda ( in Vedic mythology ) and Orphis egg ( in Greek mythology ),
from which, respectively, the very universe hatched and expanded, or the
primordial, hermaphroditic deity had.
Ovoid shape, the egg shape, is a
traditional shape used in occultism and talismanic to represent Akasha, the
Ether, or the fifth element which is the Spirit. [5]
The Term misconception
The only thing that, albeit very loosely,
correlates celebration of Christian Easter with Eostre is the name. And that’s only the case in Anglo-Saxon and
Germanic counties and diaspora (!!). In fact, Christians will often use the
term “Pascha” instead, or “Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord”.
However to the many English speakers,
Easter is a mundane word, with no connotation to Pagan’s month name, or
fertility festivities;
“Some Orthodox Christians
discourage the use of the word Easter,
believing that the term has roots in pagan rites of the spring equinox and
overtones of fertility. Most English speakers are unaware of the etymological
origins of Easter, however, and
use it without any sense of pagan connotations, and so Easter is also used by many Orthodox English speakers.
The origin of the term Easter comes from the Germanic name
for the month in which the Christian feast usually fell, and so, just as the
American civic holiday of the Fourth of July has nothing to do with Julius
Caesar for whom July was named, neither does Easter have anything to do with
the pagan goddess Eostre, the namesake of the month in which Pascha fell. “ [6]
Christian symbolism of the Egg
For the Christians, egg has
additional symbolism, aside the universal attributes. It symbolizes and empty
tomb, or the tomb of Lord Jesus, whereby the hard, shell exterior symbolizes
the stone which was used to cover the entrance to the Christ’s gravesite.
Breaking the eggs on Pascha symbolically represents breaking off the stone on
Christ’s grave, and just as the little chicken hatches from the egg, so does a
new life, Christ rises from grave, defeating thus death. Hence to the
Christians, egg is not merely some fertility symbol, nor is associated with the
rabbits, those are things of popular culture, and commercialism.
Traditionally Christians would
abstain from eating meat (least the fish on certain days), eggs, milk, or any
animal byproducts during the Lent period ( 40 days prior to Pascha ), and the
eggs were thus something that was tabooed during the period, in order to
stress out the Divine symbolism embodied in them. This is still a living
tradition among Eastern Orthodox Christians, as well as some Eastern Catholic
Christians. [7] Hence, the first thing the pious taste, after the communion
that is, on the Pascha is an hardboiled egg. Not the chocolate one lol.
Christians have been dying eggs
in Europe from the XII century, and in Slavic countries ever since the XVI
century, which was done to commemorate the miraculous and joyful resurrection
of our Lord Christ, who thus saved human souls from perdition, and ensured them
eternal life. This is why, the eggs are traditionally dyed in red color, even
though in modern times, eggs are being dyed all sort of colors or even
decorated with intricate, and meticulously created art, such as is the case of
Ukrainian “pysanky” or “pisanki”.
The oldest technique for this
complex method of art decorations is
so called “batik” technique where the special tool, having a quill top pen
attached to it, was used to dispense
the melted beeswax over the eggshell, creating decorative, and symbolic
patterns, ranging from phytmorphic, over eternity knots to Christian symbolism
and inscriptions, such as the Paschal Christian greeting: “God has risen!!!”
[8]
But the red dyed eggs still
remain the most favorable, and most traditional kind for Christians. The red
color on them symbolizes Blood shed by Lord Christ, life, resurrection, and
vitality, also rebirth and health. The first egg dyed red, during particular
Paschal season, usually whole red, or decorated with a Cross, or words “God has
risen!” is set aside and kept in home
during the whole ( following ) year, as a powerful
talisman to protect the house from lighting, thieves, misfortune, sickness and
epidemics and evil spirits and spells. In Serbia and Montenegro, such eggs is
referred to as “Cuvarkuca” (lit. House-guardian), and is kept in some special
place in home, often on display, to protect it. After a year has passed, it’s
either buried in the ground, or tossed into a running water, and then replaced
by a new one. [9]
Eggs dyed red are also
associated with the miraculous event associated with Mary Magdalene that took
place when the Christ resurrected according to Christian legend. The Legend
comes in a few variations, in one of them Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of
Christ on the third day after the
Crucifixion, only to find and empty tomb. Upon seeing the risen Christ, the
eggs she was carrying in basket turned red.
“A different, but not necessarily conflicting legend concerns Mary
Magdalene's efforts to spread the Gospel. According to this tradition, after
the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with
"Christ has risen," whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and
stated, "Christ has no more risen than that egg is red."
After making this statement
it is said the egg immediately turned blood red” [10]
In a third legend Mary
Magdalene encounters some Roman
soldiers, and greets them with “Christ has risen!” to which they mockingly
replay that Christ is risen as much as eggs are red, which results in rain of
red eggs falling down on them, striking them with awe and terror, in front of
the revelation.
The power of the red egg,
folklore and beliefs among the Christian folk
Following are some beliefs
associated with the Paschal dyed egges, particularly red ones, prevalent among
the pious Christian folk
·
The
First egg boiled and dyed red for Pascha is set aside to guard home from
thunder, thieves, evil spirits, spells,
and misery and illness ( Serbia and
Montenegro, Peninsula ) Several “pisanki” are
saved for the same purpose in Ukraine and Russia
·
The
same egg is dipped inside a vessel with water and freshly plucked flowers,
blossom and Rosemary twigs, on Palm Sunday, overnight. The next day, the
household members, and children wash their face with this water to ensure
health, beauty and longevity.
·
Among
the Czech and Slovak people, young men hit young women ( lightly ) with birch
or willow twigs, and sprinkle them with water, and in return the girls give
them red dyed eggs. This is said to confer to the girls beauty and good health.
·
In
Germany and England people dance around hard boiled, dyed eggs on Easter,
taking care not to break them. This is sometimes referred to as Egg-dance, or
hop-dance in England.
·
Pysanky
or pisanki, with spiral motifs can be used to trap demons. A blessed Pysanky
can be used to find demons hiding in dark corners of someone’s house ( Ukraine
)
·
Cloth
that was used ( or a napkin ) first dyed egg on Pascha ( in Balkans ), or the
“Cuvarkuca” ( in Serbia and Montenegro ), or
the first “pysanky” in Ukraine, was believed to retain healing powers
for the time of year, and was used in
healing rituals.
Benediction of the eggs
The Paschal, or the Easter eggs,
are traditionally blessed by Christian priest, in Eastern Orthodox
Christianity, and are then exchanged among the pious, and given as alms to the
poor, believing to bring blessings and health when eaten.
In Serbia and Montenegro, an old
European custom survives, and lives even
nowadays, and consists of egg knocking
contest, where the two parties knock eggs, which will result in one being
broken and other remaining whole. The owner of the “whole” egg is considered a
winner, and also gets the other party’s broken
egg, as a reward, and moves
on onto the next opponent, doing so as
long as his egg remains whole.
In any case, eggs, most often
chicken, boiled and blessed on Pasha, or the
Feast of the resurrection of the Lord are held in belief as powerful
blessing and healing tool, as long as You don’t eat too much that is J That would merely give one a stomachache and possibly constipation J
Here is an old prayer, fro the
Latin Rite Romanum, used to benedict the
Easter eggs:
“Lord, let the grace of your blessing
+ come upon these eggs, that they be healthful food for your faithful who eat
them in thanksgiving for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives
and reigns with you forever and ever! “ [11]
NOTES: This article was written/created by myself, so If You wish to use any part of it elsewhere online, feel free but add credits: Shadow of Shadows magick place , Shadow-333@hotmail.com or a direct link to this post
CREDITS AND REFERENCES:
[1] more about Ukranian tradition
of dying and decorating eggs ; http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CE%5CA%5CEasteregg.htm
[3] Acc. To http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre
[4] According to “Illustrated
Encyclopedia of signs and symbols” by Marc O’ Connell and Raje Airey
[5] As stated in: “How to make
and use talismans” by Israel Regardie
[6] Quoted from: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Pascha ,
used here for educational and explanatory purposes without any ill will
[7] More about it here: https://melkite.org/faith/faith-worship/holy-week-traditions
[8] According to: https://melkite.org/faith/faith-worship/holy-week-traditions
[9] According to Dr. Vesna Marjanovic, from the Ethnographic
museum of Belgrade; more here: http://www.blic.rs/Vesti/Dodatak/183594/Jaje-je-simbol-zivota
translated and paraphrased here by myself, for educational , explanatory and discussion purposes, without any ill will
[10] Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg
, used here for educational and explanatory
purposes without any ill will
[11] Retrieved from same source
listed under [10] , for
educational and illustrative purposes, posted here without any ill will
IMAGE CREDITS: Image used was taken, and edited by myself
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