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What
is the origin
of the Easter Egg? 
First Imperial Faberge Egg - 1885
From
earliest times, and in most cultures, the egg signified rebirth and resurrection.
The Egyptians buried eggs in their tombs. The Greeks placed eggs atop graves.
Given as gifts by the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Chinese at their spring festivals,
the egg also appears in pagan mythology, where we read of the Sun-Bird being hatched
from the "World Egg". The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring
with a festival
commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime
—
"Eastre" — through her earthly symbol, the rabbit. Eggs
were wrapped with gilt or gold leaf, while peasants often dyed their eggs. The
tinting was achieved by boiling the eggs with certain flowers, leaves, log wood
chips, or
the cochineal insect. Spinach leaves or anemone petals were considered
best for green; the
bristly gorse blossom for yellow; and log wood for rich
purple and the cochineal for scarlet. In
parts of Germany during the early 1880s, Easter eggs substituted for birth certificates.
An egg was dyed a solid color, then a design, which included the recipient’s
name
and birth date, was etched into the shell with a needle or sharp tool.
Such Easter
eggs were honored in law courts as evidence of identity and age. Decorating
and coloring eggs for Easter was the custom in England during the middle
ages.
The household accounts of Edward I, for the year 1290, recorded an expenditure
of
eighteen pence for four hundred and fifty eggs to be gold-leafed and colored
for Easter gifts. Easter’s
most valuable eggs were hand crafted in the 1880s. Made by the great
goldsmith
Peter Carl Faberge, they were commissioned by Czar Alexander III of
Russia
as gifts for his wife, Czarina Maria Feodorovna. The first Faberge egg, presented
in 1886, measured two and a half inches long and had a deceptively simple exterior.
Inside the white enamel shell, though, was a golden yolk, which when opened
revealed a gold hen with ruby eyes. The hen itself could be opened, by lifting
the beak, to expose a tiny diamond replica of the imperial crown.
See: The
Faberge Eggs: An Illustrated Overview
and: A
Gallery of Russian Imperial Easter Eggs.
From ... "The
Great Idea Finder" 
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