ORIGIN OF THE EASTER EGG. 
ELANORA KINSLEY MARBLE. 
OW is the time of year when we 
feel called upon to inform our 
readers that the peacock does 
not lay the pretty colored 
Easter eggs. 
This valuable bit of information the 
great American humorist feels called 
upon to make year after year, and 
though we elder folk smile, and the 
young query, how many of us are 
familiar with the history of the custom 
of observing the closing of Lent with 
the egg feast? 
One must go back to the Persians 
for the first observance of the egg day. 
According to one of the ancient cos- 
mogonies, al] things were produced 
from an egg, hence called the mundane 
egg. This cosmogony was received in 
Persia, and on this account there ob- 
tained, among the people of that coun- 
try, a custom of presenting each other 
with an egg, the symbol of a new be- 
ginning of time on every New Year’s 
day; that is, on the day when the sun 
enters Aries, the Persians reckoning 
the beginning of the new year from 
that day, which occurred in March. 
The doctrine of the mundane egg was 
not confined to the limits of Persia, 
but was spread, together with the 
practice of presenting New Year’s 
eggs, through various other countries. 
But the New Year was not kept on the 
day when the sun enters Aries, or at 
least it ceased, in process of time, to be 
so kept. In Persia itself the intro- 
duction of the Mohammedan fa th 
brought with it the removal of New 
Year’s day. 
Among the Jews the season of the 
ancient New Year became that of the 
Passover, and among the Christians 
the season of the Passover has become 
that of ‘Easter. Among all’ these 
changes the custom of giving an egg 
at the sun’s entrance into Aries still 
prevails. The egg has also continued 
to be held as a symbol, and the sole 
alteration is the prototype. At first it 
was said to be the beginning of time 
and now it is called the symbol of the 
resurrection. One sees, therefore, 
what was the real origin of the Easter 
egg of the Greek and Roman churches. 
From a book entitled ‘‘An Extract 
from the Ritual of Pope Paul V.,” 
made for Great Britain, it appears that 
the paschal egg is held by the Roman 
church to be an emblem of the resur- 
rection, and that it is made holy by a 
special blessing of a priest. 
In Russia Easter day is set apart for 
paying visits. The men go to each 
other’s house in the morning and in- 
troduce themselves by saying ‘‘ Christ 
is arisen.” The answer is “Yes, he is 
risen!’’ Then they embrace, exchange 
eggs, and sad to relate, drink a great 
deal of brandy. 
An account of far older date says, 
“Every year against Easter day, the 
Russians color or dye red with Brazil 
wood a great number of eggs, of which 
every man and woman giveth one unto 
the priest of the parish upon Easter 
day in the morning. And, moreover, 
the common people carry in their 
hands one of these red eggs, not only 
upon Easter day but also three or four 
days after. And gentlewomen and 
gentlemen have eggs gilded, which 
they carry in like manner. They use 
the eggs, as they say, for a great love 
and in token of the resurrection 
whereof they rejoice. For when two 
friends meet during the Easter holi- 
days, they come and take one another 
by the hand; the one of them saith, 
‘The Lord, our Christ, is risen!’ The 
other answereth, ‘It is so of a truth!’ 
Then they kiss and exchange their 
eggs, both men and women continuing 
in kissing four days together.” 
There is an old English proverb on 
the subject of Easter eggs, namely: 
“T’ll warrant you an egg for Easter.” 
In some parts of England, notably in 
the north, the eggs are colored by 
means of dyeing drugs, in which the 
eggs are boiled. These eggs are called 
“paste” eggs, also “pace” and “pasche,” 
all derived from “pascha”—-Easter. 
