Eggs are a forbidden food during Lent, making them a welcome return to the menu on Easter Day. For Christians, Easter eggs symbolise new life. They believe that, through his resurrection, Jesus defeated death and sin and offers people the promise of eternal life if they follow his teachings. Eggs have been a symbol of continuing life and resurrection since pre-Christian spring celebrations.

Eggs had a religious significance in many ancient civilizations; Egyptians buried eggs in their tombs as did the Greeks; A Roman proverb states, “All life comes from an egg”. It’s probably no surprise that Christianity should also adopt the egg to symbolise the resurrection of Christ.

The first eggs given at Easter were birds eggs. These eggs were painted in bright colours to give them further meaning as a gift. As chocolate was becoming more wide spread in the 20th Century, a chocolate version of the traditional egg was developed. The size of the chocolate egg has grown over the years and is now more likely to be the size of an ostrich egg rather than a small birds egg.

Small chocolate eggs are hidden for the children to find on the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. In recent years this game has been linked to the Easter Bunny, which only arrived in Britain relatively recently.

Easter eggs are sometimes known as pace eggs, a name that is ultimately derived from Pesach (Passover). All kinds of fun are had with the hard-boiled decorated pace eggs. The background colour of the eggs is provided by onion skins, with designs created by leaves and flowers placed next to the shell.