Easter eggs are a fun Easter custom that, according to legend, go back to the time of Jesus. Before Easter Sunday, families color hardboiled eggs together using special dye kits. Many kids get very creative, and create Easter eggs of every color of the rainbow. Some companies provide wax pencils so children can write on their egg. The night before Easter, while the household children are sleeping, the eggs are hidden around the house or yard (by a parent, or perhaps even the Easter Bunny!). Then, on Easter morning, the children hunt for the Easter eggs. Today, instead of real eggs, many children hunt a plastic Easter egg that is filled with candy or another treat.
According to legend, Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus' cross for him on Good Friday, was an egg seller. When asked to carry the cross of Christ, Simon left behind a basket of eggs he was about to sell. When he returned, the eggs were a multitude of colors. Of course this story is just a legend, but provides a biblical explanation for the tradition of hunting Easter eggs around Easter.
Eggs probably became a symbol of Easter, not because of Simon of Cyrene, but because eggs are a sign of fertility. Easter is celebrated during the springtime, when many pagan religions celebrated the rebirth and renewal of nature that comes with the spring. Christians celebrate the rebirth and renewal that comes through the resurrection of Jesus during Easter, but likely borrowed some customs and symbols of other religions, including the Easter egg and bunny (also a symbol of fertility).
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