This time of year the shops are full of chocolate Easter eggs and who doesn’t like to receive one on Easter Sunday? Adults and children come together to celebrate this Christian festival of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Traditionally eggs have always symbolised fertility and rebirth and so early Christians of Mesopotamia began the Easter egg custom. The tradition of Shrove Tuesday began because eggs were one of the foods banned during Lent and so they all had to be used up by making pancakes. When Easter Sunday arrived, it was a treat to eat an egg and whilst it is seldom now that we decorate our eggs or paint them red to symbolise the blood of Christ, the connection between eggs and Easter was established thousands of years ago. Today, for those Christians who have given up not only eggs but chocolate for Lent, Easter Sunday represents a double treat.
As with most of our modern traditions we have the Victorians to thank for producing eggs made out of chocolate. Before the use of chocolate, painting eggs was a common way to celebrate Easter across Christian communities and dates back to at least the 13th century and still takes place across the world to celebrate Easter. The first chocolate Easter egg was produced by Fry’s in 1873 followed by Cadbury’s in 1875. France and Germany had been making chocolate eggs for many years before the UK, but these eggs had been made from solid chocolate. Fry’s was the first to figure out how to use moulds and make hollow eggs. This had been achieved through the Fry family’s innovations in making chocolate by mixing cocoa fat with cocoa powder and sugar. This made a smooth paste which could be poured into egg moulds. Whilst today, in a more secular society, Easter eggs are seen as an indulgent treat and for many have no connection with Christianity, we should think about how this tradition began thousands of years ago and its connection with religion and re-birth.
