History of Easter Foods

The foods of Easter are a mixture of Christian, Jewish, and pagan traditions that celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the coming of spring.

The main Christian holy day (actually more than a month) celebrates Jesus' resurrection, but the idea of rebirth in the spring season and many customs come from older observances. The name Easter is used in English speaking countries - in other countries the name is some version of Paschal. That word comes from the Hebrew Pesach, or Passover, because Jesus' Last Supper was likely a Seder, a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.

The word "Easter" comes from an early German/Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn-rebirth of the year, Eostre. Her symbol was a rabbit that laid eggs. Egg symbolism is even older than that. The earliest representations date to at least 7,000 year ago in the Neolithic civilizations of Eastern Europe- eggs, female deities, even the color red and designs on modern Easter eggs are found there. Hot cross buns probably come from Eostre celebrations - the cross is ancient Anglo-Saxon symbol, from at least the 5th century AD.

Hatching eggs remind people of newborn or reborn life and rabbits are prolific breeders especially in the spring. Because Christians are supposed to observe Lent before Easter and can't eat eggs or meat, you can see why these two would become important foods when Lent is ended.

Decorating Easter eggs dates to Medieval Europe; so does egg rolling. In America, dyed and decorated Easter eggs were brought by Germans in the later 18th and 19th centuries, especially Pennsylvania Dutch. They became popular during the 19th century as Easter celebrations became more focused on children. Other ethic groups, Greeks for instance, use red dye - that's as old as the Neolithic and blood means new life.

Prehistoric graves have yielded clay eggs, entombed with their inhabitants as tokens of immortality. Ancient Romans decorated eggs and gave them as gifts to celebrate the vernal equinox. As these examples demonstrate, eggs have long been symbols of immortality, rebirth, and new life. Dyeing eggs in bright hues and decorating them is a tribute to the vitality and fertility evident everywhere in spring; new life emerging after the cold, dark dormancy of winter. With the advent of Christianity, the symbolism of the egg was adapted to signify Christian principles of renewal, specifically Christ’s Resurrection on Easter morning.

Chocolate Easter eggs and jelly beans are later incarnations of the Easter "egg," appearing in Easter baskets sometime during the early 1800s and 1930s, respectively. Jelly beans were around earlier, they just did not have an association with the Easter bunny until around this time.

Hiding and hunting eggs most likely comes from rural traditions when people would have to find eggs laid in fields and hedges by chickens and other birds. It also means hunting rabbits. This, too, became a children's game. Eggs are a big part of Easter foods, whether eaten alone or in all the fancy baked breads of the season.

If Jesus ate meat at the Last Supper, it would have been lamb. Jewish Passover traditions call for lamb, and so do most European traditions. But, in northern Europe pigs, were always important. Hams, from pigs slaughtered in the winter, then salted and smoked were ready to eat in the spring before fresh meats were available. This is especially true in North America where lamb was never an important meat.

Easter/Spring is supposed to make people happy and what could make us happier than chocolate? That's a 19th century invention; chocolate eggs, rabbits, chicks and the like because hardened chocolate candies weren't invented until about 1850 and not popular until the late 1870s (it's a matter of technology). Besides, when egg production became industrialized, egg gifts did not seem too special. Chocolate, now more widely available, is always welcomed because we love it. New production methods allowed mass production of filled chocolate candies-creams, especially, so Easter confections moved from boutique candy makers to the wider retail market. Chocolate candies became cheaper and cheaper, especially as less and less chocolate was used (maybe 15% in most common candies) and by the 20th century the market was flooded with holiday candies. Valentine's Day and Christmas are two other big ones.

If you're not going out to catch a rabbit or hunt up eggs in fields, then just buy some candy avatars-especially marshmallow Peeps (how about blue ones?).