THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 16, 1995 TAG: 9504150080
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The joy and hope of the Easter Resurrection has been symbolized for centuries by lambs, rabbits, chicks, lilies, crosses, butterflies, lions and even the phoenix. The simple egg, however, is perhaps the oldest and most universal symbol of rebirth and new life.
The egg was a symbol of new life long before Christianity, when the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans ate eggs as part of their spring festivals. The Persians believed that the earth had been hatched from an egg at the time of the spring equinox.
The earliest Christians adopted the egg as symbol of the Resurrection. A forbidden food during Lent, eggs, sometimes dyed red to suggest joy - or, according to another theory, the blood shed on Calvary - were served as part of the Easter celebration.
In French folklore, the village church bells were silent during the week before Easter because they had gone to Rome to receive the blessing of the Pope. When the bells returned to the church tower on Easter Eve, their bearers brought back eggs, dyed scarlet like a cardinal's cloak, to be distributed to the children of the village.
In England and Germany as well as in America, parents have traditionally tucked colored eggs into nests around their yards for the children to find on Easter morning. The legend of the Easter Bunny was probably born out of children glimpsing garden rabbits hopping near the nests of hidden eggs.
Egg rolling contests have long been an Easter Monday custom in both Germany and England and became a unique national tradition in the United States when Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison, began the custom of the White House lawn Easter Egg Roll.
Hundreds of children gather on the south lawn of the White House to roll colored eggs down the green terraces, frequently rolling themselves down after the eggs. Egg cracking games are popular with children across the world. Players grasp a hardboiled egg firmly in their closed hands and knock each other's eggs, pointed end to pointed end. Victory belongs to the toughest egg, the one that can remain uncracked through the most knocks.
In Poland, Russia, and the Ukraine, some Easter eggs are treated as folk art. Using fine brushes, beeswax and layers of dye in red and black, egg artists create elaborate designs on the eggs which are called Pysanki and may be set aside as cherished heirlooms.
In earlier years before egg decorating kits appeared on supermarket shelves, eggs were dyed using food colors or plant materials like flowers and onion skins to produce soft shades of reds, yellows, blues and greens.
Today families often gather on Easter Eve to dye and decorate eggs which the Easter Bunny will hide overnight. After all the eggs are found and a few eaten the next morning, what can you do with all those other hardboiled eggs?
Set the kids to playing egg cracking games and use the cracked eggs to make Pickled Red Beets and Eggs, a simple and unusual treat beloved by the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Here's the recipe:
1 dozen eggs, hard-cooked and peeled
1 pound can sliced red beets, drained, reserving juice
1 red onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vinegar
In a large glass jar or crock, layer whole eggs, beets, and onion. Combine beet juice with remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour over eggs, beets, and onion slices and let stand 24 to 48 hours or more before serving. by CNB