What is the origin of the Easter egg?

Answer

The egg and the rabbit were pagan symbols of fertility. When pagan and Christian beliefs were integrated such symbols became part of the celebration of the major spring time Christian holiday.

Answer

Christians adopted all sorts of Pagan rituals to make their religion more appealing to the natives they were prosteltizing to. The Christmas tree is also adopted from Pagan ritual.

Easter ( the Goddess of the Dawn) is an English pagan springtime festival that became attached to the Christian feast usually called Passover - that is, its name in most languages other than English and German is derived from pascha, the Chaldean or Aramaean form of the Hebrew pesach ( the first Christians were Jews, after all).

Eggs are obvious symbols of new life in the returning Spring, but Easter eggs are not mere hens' eggs, in humble chalky brown shells: these are magical dragons' eggs, all shelled in riots of gilded glory. In fact, they are the eggs of the same pagan oracular serpents that "St Patrick" is supposed to have chased out of Ireland, as part of Rome's extermination of the Celtic Christian Church.

And the bunny is Easter herself, the triple moon goddess in her fertile aspect ( just as the owl represents her in her wise aspect). So the bunny with a clutch of painted eggs in a grass-lined basket means: here comes Easter, the bride of the Year, bearing new life in the greening of the Earth and the warming of the sun.

First answer by ID3451679945. Last edit by Bennett hammond. Contributor trust: 184 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 67 [recommend question]