History of the Easter Egg
Has your mind ever pondered the origin of Easter Eggs? It seems a strange albeit delicious custom, that of sending and receiving hollow eggs fashioned of chocolate. Well we here at Gifts2TheDoor decided to investigate into this mystery!
Easter, as many of us are probably aware, owes its existence to Christianity; Jesus being hung up on a cross, dying, and then coming back to life. But strangely enough, the tradition of an Easter egg has very little to do with that. It has stronger connections with pagan rituals, to be precise, the pagan rites of spring. Obvious perhaps, but the egg symbolizes fertility and re-birth, and this has encouraged the giving of eggs around Easter time. A certain population believe the egg is a representation of the stock blocking the Sepulcher being rolled away.
At their earliest, Easter eggs, were in fact, simply eggs. An oddity we may think, but nonetheless popular, in fact this tradition still exists in many parts of the world. At the end of the 17th century people got a little more adventurous, and started to create eggs made of various materials, as oppose to an actual egg. Eventually these new eggs developed into a far more generous version; a cardboard egg brimming with gifts of goodwill and beautifully decorated. However, it wasn’t until we said Hello the 19th century that things got totally luxurious. That’s right, Fabergé Eggs. Crafted with care and passion from a French Jeweler, they were coated in mass jewels, definitely the egg to be spotted with.
Towards the end of the 19th century the process of creating chocolate eggs was made far easier thanks to improved machinery, and this resulted in more demand for the Easter egg; it was becoming tradition. And by the time we found ourselves amidst the swinging sixties they were pretty much standard worldwide.
So who do we send our letter of thanks to, for creating the adored chocolate Easter egg? Well, both France and Germany claim they were the first. Regardless, the scrumptious fashion of sending chocolate eggs at Easter was copied all over the world and still lives on today, and we’re certainly thankful for that!
A well kept secret about Easter eggs is as follows; they used to be solid. However, manufactures realized that with their snazzy new equipment they could fashion hollow eggs at a fraction of the cost, saving money, and increasing the output. Business savvy indeed, but we can’t help wishing they’d remained solid!
We hope you enjoyed the read and don't forget that Gifts2theDoor Australia always has a terrific range of Easter Gifts to send to your friends, family and loved ones.