The custom of Easter eggs was born within the Catholic Church, due to a banal domestic need, and ended up spreading around the world.
Newsroom (04/18/2022 16:23, Gaudium Press) The beginning of this tradition goes back to the fourth century and is closely linked to Lent. At that time, it was forbidden to eat eggs during the forty-day penitential period. Therefore, a large quantity of eggs accumulated in the family larders. To avoid waste, they were given to the children.
Eggs blessed and decorated
So, starting on Holy Thursday, the children, preceded by the parish choirboys, began to collect them from house to house. And on Easter Sunday they were made into omelets and enjoyed by the whole population.
In the 12th century, in many European countries, it was already a custom for the faithful to give each other natural eggs blessed in church on Easter Day.
Adhering to this popular custom, the nobles and important personalities enriched it with a cultural characteristic: the eggs began to be decorated with scenes painted, often by future celebrities from the artistic world.
Stuffed eggs
Around the 16th century, another improvement came about. Someone had the idea to pierce the egg, and replace its natural contents with a “surprise”, which, depending on the category of the gifted person, could be perfume, tiny decorative objects, or even jewelry.
In the 18th century, King Louis XIV had large baskets of golden eggs blessed on Easter Day, which he then distributed to the court staff. Around the same time, natural eggs began to be emptied and filled with chocolate.
Today, Easter eggs are made of chocolate, marzipan, or a mixture of the most diverse ingredients, and make the joy of children… and adults all over the world.
The history of Fabergé eggs
In this matter, the peak of refinement was reached in Russia at the end of the 19th century. At Easter time in 1885, Tsar Alexander III decided to give the Czarina – not a simple natural egg, albeit with artistic designs – but an entire piece made of gold and adorned in the same proportion of wealth.
From then on, every year the Tsar would place a new order, and Fabergé would do his best to exceed the previous year’s order. Thus was formed the fabulous collection of 56 Easter eggs, famous throughout the world. The execution was commissioned to the best jeweler in St. Petersburg: Peter Karl Fabergé. And on Resurrection Sunday, the Tsarina received from the hands of her imperial husband a jewel of fascinating beauty, made of gold, silver, enamel, and rubies.
Jewels of fascinating beauty
To the richness of the material – gold, platinum, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, crystals – the jeweler added his refined enamel technique and, above all, his great artistic sense. Each piece is an authentic work of art, a delight not only for the eyes, but above all for the soul.
It is pleasing to see how the custom of Easter eggs – born, within the Holy Church, from a banal domestic need – acquired a religious connotation, spread around the world, and finally reached this refinement of art and civilization.
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
