CRACKING TIMES


Easter Eggs are an integral part of the holiday weekend. Even grown ups like to get one or two on Easter Sunday. We were wondering how that tradition began. After all, Easter is essentially a religious holiday all over the Christian world, when the death of Christ is mourned and his resurrection celebrated. Easter Eggs never featured in the bible! This  tradition probably has links to the Goddess Oestre – a norse Goddess of Fertility from Pagan times. She symbolises spring and the new growth of the season. Oestre is often depicted in paintings as a beautiful and sexy fertile lady, surrounded by little birds and bunny rabbits! This could be where the Easter Bunny originated. Oestre was the ‘It’ girl of ancient times – celebrated by Pagans in a special festival during the Spring Equinox in March. As often happens, pagan festivals of old and Christian religious theories overlap and become amalgamated.  Essentially, eggs and hoppy little bunnies represent fertility and new birth, which is what the Easter Christian story tells us too, as Christ arose from the dead to promise new life to his followers. The giving of chocolate Easter eggs have come to epitomise the modern day Easter holiday, Chocolate eggs have only been eaten in the last century. Before that, eggs may have been fresh ones, or carved from precious woods or stones. Our artisan chocolatiers often decorate their hand crafted eggs with edible symbols of spring, like beautiful flowers and birds. We reckon Goddess Oestre would be very happy to see her traditions carried on in the modern day!