Red Eggs

I recently came across an interesting explanation of Easter eggs.

In traditional Russian culture, the children would use, or build, a small wooden structure (the “hill”), and roll eggs, painted red, down a chute. All Easter eggs were originally painted red. The game was played on Easter Sunday, since the rolling of the eggs symbolizes the rolling away (by angels) of the stones covering Jesus’ tomb. (The picture below is “Children Rolling Easter Eggs” by Painter Nikolai Koshelev.

The reason for the red eggs is an ancient tradition that Maria Magdalene happened to be proselytizing in ancient Rome when she was arrested and taken for an audience with Emperor Tiberius Caesar. She handed the Emperor a regular white chicken egg and told him about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Tiberius exclaimed: “There is no such thing as resurrection. A man cannot rise from the dead, any more than this white egg can suddenly turn red.” And, as he said it, the egg turned red in his hand.