Family & Life Magazine Issue 6 | Page 9

FRIDAY! BURNING EASTER SUNDAY QUESTIONS! WHY DO WE EAT CHOCOLATE QEGGS DURING EASTER? A Well, eggs are a potent symbol of life, renewal and rebirth dating back for a few millennium, and were adopted by early Christians to signify the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The tradition of eating eggs on Easter is also tied to Lent, the six-week period before Easter during which Christians traditionally abstained from all animal products, including meat, dairy • In ye olde Britain, the churches would hold an egg throwing festival. and eggs. Since the chickens would continue to lay eggs during Lent, The priest would give out one hard-boiled egg that would be tossed the Christians would hard boil the eggs so that they would not spoil and around the nave of the church and the choirboy holding the egg save them for Easter. As for chocolate, well, children love chocolate, and when the clock struck twelve would get to keep it. coating the eggs in chocolate gave the ritual a fun, kid-friendly twist. • In the past, children in Germany were very adept at egg throwing. They devised a technique to spin the egg during the toss such that it would land on the ground on its tip while it was still spinning. Talk about talent! MORE EASTER EGG TRADITIONAL GAMES • In Holland, the Dutch children would play a game called egg sales. One child would sell an egg to another child. Then, the new owner of the egg would throw the egg at the grass and if it did not break, then the egg had to be returned to the seller. The country also has an egg dancing game. Children would dance inside a large circle of eggs and had to try to work their way out without