A Many Easter traditions – including hot cross buns and lamb on Sunday – stem from medieval christian Or even earlier pagan beliefs. However, there’s a more modern twist on the chocolate Easter egg tradition.
Chicken eggs have been eaten at Easter for centuries. Eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth and renewal, making them perfect for telling the story of Jesus’ resurrection as well as a reminder of the arrival of spring.
Although nowadays eggs can be eaten during the fasting period of Lent, in the Middle Ages they were banned along with meat and dairy. Medieval cooks often found surprising ways around this, even making fake eggs to replace them.
For Easter – a period of celebration – eggs and meat, such as lamb (also a symbol of renewal), were back on the table.
Even once eggs were allowed in the Lenten meal, they held a special place in the Easter feast. 17th century cookbook author recommended by John Murrell “Eggs with Green Sauce”, a type of pesto made from sorrel leaves.
throughout Europe, eggs were also given as tithe (a kind of annual rent) to the local church on Good Friday. Perhaps this is where the idea of giving eggs as a gift came from. The practice died out in many Protestant areas after the Reformation, but some English villages continued the tradition until the 19th century.
It is not known exactly when people started decorating their eggs, but research has indicated In the 13th century, when King Edward I presented eggs wrapped in gold leaf to his courtiers.
A few centuries later, we know that people all over Europe were dying their eggs different colors. They usually choose yellow, using onion peel, or red, using madder roots or beetroot. The red egg is considered a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ. a 17th century writer It is suggested that the practice goes as far back as the early Christians in Mesopotamia, but it is difficult to know for sure.
In England, the most popular way to decorate was with petals, which made colorful prints. The Wordsworth Museum is still in the Lake District egg collection Created for the poet’s children from the 1870s.
From dyed eggs to chocolate eggs
Although dyeing patterned eggs is still a common Easter activity, these days the eggs are more commonly associated with chocolate. But when did this shift happen?
When chocolate arrived in Britain in the 17th century, it was an exciting and very expensive novelty. In 1669, the The Earl of Sandwich paid £227 – the equivalent of around £32,000 today – for a chocolate recipe from King Charles II.
Today chocolate is considered a solid food, but back then it was only a drink and was usually spiced with black pepper Following Aztec and Mayan traditions. To the British, this exotic new drink was like nothing they had ever encountered. one author called it “American Elixir”: a drink for the gods.
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Chocolate was soon a fashionable drink for the elite, often given as a gift for its high status, a tradition still followed today. i enjoyed it too newly opened coffee house around London. Coffee and tea were also only introduced in England, and all three drinks were rapidly changing how Britons interacted with each other socially.
Catholic theologian During this time chocolate became associated with Easter, but out of concern that drinking chocolate would go against fasting practices during Lent. After heated debate, it was agreed that chocolate made with water could be acceptable during fasting. At least on Easter – a time of feasting and celebration – chocolate was fine.
Chocolate remained expensive in the 19th century, when Fry’s (now part of Cadbury) made chocolate The first solid chocolate bar in 1847Revolutionizing the Chocolate Business.
For the Victorians, chocolate was much more accessible but still something of an indulgence. Thirty years later, in 1873, Fry developed the first chocolate Easter egg as a luxury treat, combining the two gift-giving traditions.
Even in the early 20th century, these chocolate eggs were seen as a special gift and many people never even ate them. a woman in wales laid an egg for 70 years from 1951 and a museum in Torquay recently bought an egg saved since 1924,
It was only in the 1960s and 1970s that supermarkets began to offer chocolate eggs at cheap priceHoping to benefit from the Easter tradition.
with growing concern sustainable chocolate production And with bird flu inciting an egg shortage, future Easters may look a little different. But if there’s one thing Easter eggs can show us, it’s the adaptability of tradition.
serin quinnPhD Candidate, Department of History, University of Warwick
This article is republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons Licence. read the original article,
