Easter is More Than Eggs and Bunnies
The Story of Easter
Easter is almost here and though my kids are well into their teen years, I still like to give them little things and try to do small activities with them to make the different holidays fun. In a world of plastic eggs, chocolate bunnies, pre-made baskets, and holidays that are over-commercialized, I have found myself in conversations with Christian friends about how I can celebrate a meaningful Easter (or Christmas) with all of the “distractions”.
I don’t want to make this post highly religious because I don’t believe myself to be highly religious. I have faith but religion is different. But I do find it interesting that many Christians reject so many aspects of the holidays, for the sake of not offending others or to stay “true” to their faith. I understand that the bible states Christians should not do things that can lead others astray and I also understand that sometimes meaning can be lost in the “fun”, but things are what we make of it and with some mindfulness, eggs and bunnies can bring meaning too.
Taking a step further, I will say that I also do not understand the many people who attack Christians and Christianity based on simple things. People will say comments like “Easter wasn’t even on that day and it has ties to paganism so, it isn’t even important.” In my opinion, those thoughts are ridiculous. People celebrate birthdays and anniversaries on days that are not the “real” date, and it doesn’t make them less important. And while many holidays today have ties to pagan traditions, which were done to win Romans to Christianity, over the course of a couple thousand years, very few are dyeing eggs or putting up Christmas trees for paganism, it simply brings beauty and joy.
I have friends who don’t celebrate holidays because some things about that holiday are tied to paganism or because they are afraid of leading others astray. I know some that don’t celebrate Christmas because Jesus didn’t celebrate his own birthday. There are many reasons some Christians don’t like holidays, and while I find their conviction admirable, I often feel judged by their questions about the “distractions” I allow for my children.
The Olympics are rooted in paganism, are Christians wrong for watching them? Pagans also ate food, should we not eat food because pagans did this? Birthday celebrations weren’t part of Jewish tradition when Jesus was alive, though other celebrations were that he participated in. Does this mean we aren’t supposed to celebrate birthdays today, simply because he didn’t? Maybe those are odd questions, and the food thing extreme… but these are things I wonder.
At the end of the day, Easter, to many people is much more than just eggs and bunnies, so… how do you help your family find the meaning of Easter through eggs, bunnies, chocolate, and candy? In our family, we have tried to use commercial items to help tell a bigger story and we have found some traditions to help us along the way.
Some of the things we have done might help families enjoy holidays on a deeper level. I realize not everyone reading this is religious or even shares in my faith, and that is ok. While I celebrate Jesus and his sacrifice for me (and everyone), it does not mean that others who don’t share in this faith can’t celebrate on a deeper level.
Below are some ideas for everyone, take what you like and respect what you don’t!
Dyeing Easter Eggs
Easter eggs or the idea of decorating eggs, pre-dates the Christian era and has been found in ancient Egypt. Eggs symbolize fertility and new life, and many pagans used them to celebrate. Early Christians, who wanted to convert pagans, decided to use some of the pagan traditions with unique twists.
Christians in Mesopotamia began dyeing eggs red to symbolize the blood of Christ, explaining that it is through the blood of Christ that we are all able to celebrate “new life”.
The tradition of dyeing eggs has held strong, but with Easter falling in spring, instead of red, spring colors are usually favored, though some continue the tradition of red eggs. Using eggs to symbolize Jesus could be a great way to deepen the understanding of Christ’s sacrifice. Try dyeing a few eggs red this year with the explanation of our “new life” through the blood of Christ or keep the traditional colors but use the eggs to symbolize how becoming a Christian gives us a new life.
Dyeing Eggs a True Red
The eggs above are dyed with a specific dye to get them that red. Normal red dye does not do the trick. For comparison you can see the above eggs with the ones below. Those below are normal red dye. We have done both and this is because the true red dye has to be purchased online and for many years, by the time I thought of it, it was simply too late. This year I remembered… and they were GORGEOUS!
The red dye used above is used in Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations, much in the way I described above. Snag the Red Dye here!
Our Family Tradition
We liked using the red eggs to help tell the story, but one idea that my husband and I had one year was to use both red and purple eggs to tell the story of Easter. We created Easter Tomb Eggs.
On Good Friday, we had each child dye an egg red and then had them build a “tomb”. The tomb can be a shoebox inside or it can even be outside using rocks.
On the night before Easter, after the kiddos have gone to bed, we dye the appropriate amount of eggs purple, as purple is the color of royalty. We then, replace the red eggs with purple ones. Below is a picture of some that we have done in the past. We wrote sayings on them that year with Sharpie, but this isn’t a necessity.
On Easter, the kids can roll back the tomb rock, so to speak, and see that the eggs are now purple and that through the blood of Christ, we have “new life”. Though once dead, Jesus lives as the King of kings!
The pictures above are from 2015, the second year we did this. To make a tomb our kids put 4 rocks around a plastic strawberry container, they then placed them in the red eggs, and we left them outside in the garden. Late Saturday night, my husband and I dyed 4 eggs purple and replaced the red eggs.
The kids have always loved this and as they have become teenagers they still look forward to it. One of my teen sons asked me just a couple of days ago if we were still doing this. So, I guess this has become a tradition!
This idea might be met with a little criticism, as Christ was not in the tomb on the 3rd day, so why would kids find any eggs? But it is about relating to children that Jesus went in a man, came out the resurrected King, and though He wasn’t in the tomb he was on Earth.
Some thoughts if you decide to incorporate this into your Easter holiday.
- You don’t have to place the eggs outside, making a tomb and placing it on the table would work just fine. We put ours outside originally because the kids wanted to use stones for the tomb, but even stones could be placed inside.
- If you do have the tomb outside there could be issues with raccoons carrying off the eggs. Though that never happened to us it could be an issue, so keep that in mind.
- Both red and purple are difficult colors to do on eggs and it can be hard to get a true red or purple. I would suggest ordering a specific dye at least for the red, as mentioned above. Again, to get the perfect hues grab this red dye and this purple one. There are also dyes made from beet and purple sweet potato powders that might work. I haven’t tried them but I know that bakers use them, so they might work here.
More Faith-Based Ideas for Easter
