Beadglitz: BEADED EASTER EGG

As a catholic that grew up in the western part of Nigeria, Easter period is like a mourning period in our church, and also in our house. We celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, beginning with the season of lent, a forty- day period of abstinence and mourning, then end it on Easter Monday, which is the accession of Christ into heaven, it has been the same ritual every year. Then I noticed the use of Easter bunnies and colorful decorated Easters eggs to celebrate Easter in some certain culture in the world, I was very confuse about the significance of Easter bunnies and Easter eggs but am more enlightened now and I really wish we can incorporate that in our culture.

The practice of decorating Easter eggs is a tradition shared by many cultures around the world, from children using vegetable dye to decorate eggs, to professional artists creating beautiful designs. The egg is a symbol of creation, spring and fertility in many cultures and religions, its seen as a source of new life, for just as a hard shell of the egg is broken open so that new life can emerge, so was the rock- hewn tomb of jesus broke open when he rose from the dead on the third day.

According to Wikipedia, Easter eggs, are also called Paschal eggs, they are decorated eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. Eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility, and rebirth In Christianity, for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus, though an egg appears to be like the stone of a tomb, a bird hatches from it with life; similarly, the Easter egg, for Christians, is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe will also experience eternal life.
While the origin of Easter eggs can be explained in the symbolic terms described above, among followers of Eastern Christianity the legend says that Mary Magdalene was bringing cooked eggs to share with the other women at the tomb of Jesus, and the eggs in her basket miraculously turned bright red when she saw the risen Christ. The egg represents the boulder of the tomb of Jesus.