The egg. Nature's simply packaged gift of life, nourishment and beauty. Mixtures of beliefs, customs, national traditions and religious ceremony mix and continue to melt into traditions that involve the egg.
To look at one of a dozen nestled in a grocery store carton, it might be hard to imagine the symbolism and reverence that the unassuming egg has acquired over the centuries.
In dates that involve B.C., the egg has shown up as a focal point in art, as the center of carvings or as the encompassing frame within which all else is included.
The egg was used as a symbol of the universe as early civilized man understood it to be. It was used as a part of any ceremony to represent birth, rebirth beliefs and certainly the change to spring. The dispersion and migration of people did little to change the seemingly universal symbol of the egg taking center stage for end-of-winter celebrations.
Christianity brought the egg to even greater levels of reverence as it became a key source of sustenance following Lenten fasts.
Churches encouraged or required fasting during the season of Lent, and the restricted diet of humans did not stop the hens from laying eggs. To not have the eggs go to waste, early food preservation techniques were perfected by way of pickling so eggs could be eaten as part of the feasts that followed.
It is believed that egg decorating became a household tradition during this time of fasting, as the eggs could be looked at but not be eaten. When they were eaten, it was with celebration, so they needed to be special.
Folk tales and traditions intermingled with all this egg revelry and stories of burying an egg under the corner foundation of a house to bring good luck into the new home came about. Though it sounds like a somewhat silly, harmless tradition, there was good that did come of it. Early building materials and freshly cut wood attracted grazing animals, but the slightest smell of rotten egg would work as a deterrent.
Another folk tale is that eggs laid on Good Friday should be buried and not dug up for 100 years when the yolks had turned to diamonds. Of course, this has not been proven to be true _ or untrue.
Real eggs stepped down from a throne as a Easter tradition, when chocolate eggs arrived on the scene in the early 1800s. Most people in United States had not set eyes on a chocolate egg, which were always solid chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa.
Not until the mid-1800s would a chocolate egg, typically wrapped in gold foil, find its way into an Easter basket. This delicacy was an instant hit, which led to recipes with more sugar and less cocoa and the technique of making them hollow.
Eggs became associated with royalty with the creation of famous Faberge eggs for the last of the Russian czars.
The stories that surround the giving of these amazing artistic masterpieces are as fascinating as the eggs themselves.
Many who have never seen a real Faberge egg still know that they must be exquisite, ornate and extremely valuable.
The most recent sale of a Faberge egg that had been made for the Russian royal family was the egg titled "Winter." Created in 1913 and sold in 2002, it fetched a price of $9.6 million at auction. The royal eggs were made each year, beginning in 1885, as an Easter gift from Russian Czar Alexander to his wife Empress Marie. Upon Alexander's death, his son became czar and continued the tradition until 1916 when the gifts, and the royals' lives, came to tragic ends. Beyond the beauty of Faberge eggs and the great expense from which they were made, there is a history within each one as they were designed to capture events of the time within the intricate art that were not recorded anywhere else in as fine a detail.
Every country seems to have games that are played with eggs, typically only during the Easter and the spring season. Tossing eggs, hiding them and rolling them have variations that span the globe.
Plastic eggs have taken the place of real eggs in many hunts and can be filled with all sorts of treats and tiny toys. There are even eggs for the sensory impaired to seek that make beeping or chirping noise to give clues to their location, and there are eggs that flash and eggs that glow in the dark, all to include everyone in the hunt.
Coloring eggs in the past required some creative ingenuity to come up with the dyes. Coloring eggs today means getting creative beyond the dyes. The big change of coloring Easter eggs came first with the thick-pasted, highly concentrated food colorings of the late 1940s and early 1950s, followed by easier-to-use droppers of more liquid coloring that could be mixed with vinegar and water to make suitable bright colors. The fizzing color tablets for egg dying started showing up as the easiest method in the 1960s and they are still popular today "¦ with lots of variations.
Today's kits can involve glitter, tie-dye, sponges, oils, stickers, wraps and paint brushes. There is a growing resurgence of the egg dying of the past, before the manufactured shades. Folk history and handicrafts have rescued the art of coloring eggs with onion skins, flower petals and herb foliage, along with using natural waxes.
Local grocery stores plan on plenty of egg sales during this season and stock more than the regular quantities. Marc Cooper, assistant manager of the Oneonta Hannaford, said his store definitely sells more eggs, especially the 18 packs. At the Great American Grocery in Sidney, Manager Bryan Loomis explained that the store always orders extra eggs around Easter time for coloring. The store usually sells about double the usual quantity, he added.
Enjoying the coloring and decorating, the beauty and artistry that anyone can do, leaves refrigerators, post-Easter, with art that needs to be eaten. What do you do with all those beautiful eggs now? There are many great recipes for hard-boiled eggs, from the basic egg salads and deviled eggs to pates, Hindu eggs, Scotch eggs, pickled eggs and eggs with cream sauce.
Don't be chicken; get creative with the magnificent egg. Eggs have a history that is worth carrying on, and their healthy virtues will have you buying a dozen more.
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