Easter Egg Hunt
About Easter Egg Hunt
Communities and neighborhoods usually hold Easter egg hunts on the day before Easter. And, many families hold them on a smaller family-sized scale on Easter Sunday when they get together to celebrate the risen Christ. Egg hunts are as much a part of Easter as pumpkin picking is to Halloween, and presents are to Christmas. Easter egg hunts are held by families, and organizations, and even as local town events. Easter egg hunts are fun and easy. A number of colored eggs are hidden, usually separated by two to four age groups. On a given signal, the children race to find the hidden eggs
In days gone by, the eggs were hard-boiled and decorated. Most commonly today, people use hollow plastic eggs. These eggs contain candies or a coin. Often organizers include a prize slip in one of the eggs for a grand prize.
The History of Easter Egg Hunts
In ancient pagan customs, eggs were a symbol of fertility and rebirth. In those early times, eggs represented spring and renewal. The Christian practice of holding an Easter egg hunt evolved in the 15th century from these pagan traditions.
In the early Orthodox church, priests blessed the eggs and gave them to parishioners on Holy Saturday. It served as a reminder of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The shell of the egg represents the hard tomb that Christ was buried in. Cracking the egg represents Jesus’ rising from the dead.
The practice of dying eggs comes from early Christians in Mesopotamia. Dying an egg red represents the blood of Christ when he died on the cross. Yellow represents resurrection. And blue signifies love.
Martin Luther King began the tradition of easter egg hunts. Men hid colored eggs. Then, women and children searched for them. Finding them represents the joy the women felt when discovering Jesus’ empty tomb and the realization that he had risen.
Did You Know? Consumption of eggs during Lent was once forbidden.
Children Love Easter Egg Hunts
All children love Easter egg hunts, and they are over all too quickly. Organizers spend hours making the eggs or filling them with prizes. Then, they carefully hide dozens or even hundreds of eggs. For all these hours of effort, the hunt only lasts minutes, as eager children race with their Easter baskets to find as many eggs as they can.
Easter Egg Hunt Tip: For a successful hunt, separate the children by age group. And, limit the number of eggs they can find.
Our favorite events are family or neighborhood egg hunts. Typically, each family arrives with some goodies to eat. Fasting is over, so people enjoy their first taste of sweets since Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. After the hunt, the children play, and the adults get a chance to mingle and chat. And, if you are lucky, you will enjoy the first warm breezes of spring.
Did You Know? Every year the Whitehouse holds an Easter Egg Roll on the south lawn of the Whitehouse. They have done so since 1878.
More Easter Holiday Pages
Enjoy all of our Easter Pages:
Dyngus Day – This fun holiday is on Monday after Easter Sunday (Pascha).
Easter Lily – How to grow and care for them.
Resurrection of Jesus Christ – This is what the holiday is all about.
The Polish Blessed Easter Breakfast – This is a joyful Pascha tradition that anyone may want to start.
More Information
What happened on this Day? This Day in History
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Did You Know? There are literally thousands of daily holidays, special events, and observances, more than one for every day of the year. and many of these holidays are new. People and organizations are creating new holidays regularly. Consequently, at Holiday Insights, we take great efforts to thoroughly research and document the details of each one, as completely and accurately as possible.