Easter Eggs

[goforgoal]

Easter Eggs

Simon of Cyrene is one of the little heroes of the Passion of our Lord. An unsuspecting bystander, he is pressed into service by the Roman soldiers when Jesus collapses under the weight of his cross. They compel Simon to carry the cross for Jesus for the remainder of the walk to Calvary. But who is Simon? And why is he in Jerusalem that day?

Mark provides a partial answer to the first question. Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus. Apparently these are men who would have been known to the members of Mark’s community. Presumably, they were Christians. No doubt, they would have told their fellow believers all about their father’s terrible, yet awesome experience. They would have known why he was in town that day.

An old tradition gives this explanation: Simon was a farmer. He had come into Jerusalem that day to sell his produce to city folk who were preparing the Passover feast to be eaten that evening. Simon had eggs to sell, something that everyone would need for the Seder table. When the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus, Simon had no choice but to leave his basket of eggs behind. Remarkably, when he returned for his basket later in the day, it was still there, and not an egg was missing. But, even more remarkably, the eggs were no longer white, but were brightly colored. Christians continue to color eggs in memory of the first man to take up the cross of Jesus.

 

[mahalia]

They taught me that painting eggs was a tradition older than Christianity, simbolising Spring and new life…

 

[brigid12]

Easter Eggs

Simon of Cyrene is one of the little heroes of the Passion of our Lord. An unsuspecting bystander, he is pressed into service by the Roman soldiers when Jesus collapses under the weight of his cross. They compel Simon to carry the cross for Jesus for the remainder of the walk to Calvary. But who is Simon? And why is he in Jerusalem that day?

Mark provides a partial answer to the first question. Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus. Apparently these are men who would have been known to the members of Mark’s community. Presumably, they were Christians. No doubt, they would have told their fellow believers all about their father’s terrible, yet awesome experience. They would have known why he was in town that day.

An old tradition gives this explanation: Simon was a farmer. He had come into Jerusalem that day to sell his produce to city folk who were preparing the Passover feast to be eaten that evening. Simon had eggs to sell, something that everyone would need for the Seder table. When the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus, Simon had no choice but to leave his basket of eggs behind. Remarkably, when he returned for his basket later in the day, it was still there, and not an egg was missing. But, even more remarkably, the eggs were no longer white, but were brightly colored. Christians continue to color eggs in memory of the first man to take up the cross of Jesus.

That is a very interesting story. I’ll have to remember that!

 

[goforgoal]

mahalia- Who are “they”?

brigid12-To be honest with you and everyone. I didn’t think there was a story about Easter eggs and why we paint them. I love this story and from now on I’m sticking to it.

 

[mahalia]

Parents, teachers…
Eggs were a symbol of new birth and life long before Christianity, and in ancient civilisations people were buried with them.

 

[Rawb]

Mary Magdalene is the source of Easter Eggs, or so I was taught:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene#Easter_Egg_tradition

 

[wolfgang]

Easter Eggs

Simon of Cyrene is one of the little heroes of the Passion of our Lord…

An old tradition gives this explanation: Simon was a farmer. He had come into Jerusalem that day to sell his produce to city folk who were preparing the Passover feast to be eaten that evening. Simon had eggs to sell, something that everyone would need for the Seder table. When the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus, Simon had no choice but to leave his basket of eggs behind. Remarkably, when he returned for his basket later in the day, it was still there, and not an egg was missing. But, even more remarkably, the eggs were no longer white, but were brightly colored. Christians continue to color eggs in memory of the first man to take up the cross of Jesus.

I love this story. I had heard it before in the distant past. Thanks for posting this. (And here I thought it was the Easter Bunny that started all of this! )

 

[Chiltepin]

They taught me that painting eggs was a tradition older than Christianity, simbolising Spring and new life…

Parents, teachers…
Eggs were a symbol of new birth and life long before Christianity, and in ancient civilisations people were buried with them.

This and this. :yup:

The egg, like the rabbit, are symbols that were either passed on through cultural diffusion or they are so tied to spring in the human psyche that they didn’t even need to be passed on. An egg as a symbol of rebirth and a rabbit as a symbol of fertility just make sense!

Springtime, as a time of rebirth, is the perfect time to celebrate Resurrection and including some of these ancient customs is the perfect way to invite pagan people to be a part of the one true church. It puts out the welcome mat and says look we aren’t saying your culture is completely bad or inferior. Infact, we will take on some of the things which you do that are good.

I spent some of Thursday going through a Symbolic Interactionist perspective of Easter customs with my Sociology students. They were happy because I gave them candy and they say that I’m the only one who did anything relating to the holiday all day. I honestly don’t know what they would have expected their math or science teachers to do. I’m just lucky that it happens to be quite relevant in my class.

 

[Lizziebel]

Easter Eggs

Simon of Cyrene is one of the little heroes of the Passion of our Lord. An unsuspecting bystander, he is pressed into service by the Roman soldiers when Jesus collapses under the weight of his cross. They compel Simon to carry the cross for Jesus for the remainder of the walk to Calvary. But who is Simon? And why is he in Jerusalem that day?

Mark provides a partial answer to the first question. Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus. Apparently these are men who would have been known to the members of Mark’s community. Presumably, they were Christians. No doubt, they would have told their fellow believers all about their father’s terrible, yet awesome experience. They would have known why he was in town that day.

An old tradition gives this explanation: Simon was a farmer. He had come into Jerusalem that day to sell his produce to city folk who were preparing the Passover feast to be eaten that evening. Simon had eggs to sell, something that everyone would need for the Seder table. When the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus, Simon had no choice but to leave his basket of eggs behind. Remarkably, when he returned for his basket later in the day, it was still there, and not an egg was missing. But, even more remarkably, the eggs were no longer white, but were brightly colored. Christians continue to color eggs in memory of the first man to take up the cross of Jesus.

What a wonderful story! This is the first time I’ve heard the tale, and I will remember it and pass it on

 

[Volodymyr]

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http://i.i.ua/oboi/pic/6/4/149646.jpg

We have colored eggs - pitsanki for all designs and krashenki for single colors. This takes most of weeks for Pisanki and on Great Friday for making Paska (bread) and krashenki (red eggs).

Blessed Easter to all Catolics!!