THE EASTER EGG ENIGMA:
A Pagan superstition concealed within a Christian activity
WHAT HAVE EGGS GOT TO DO WITH EASTER?
by Dr. ALEC GILL MBE
BIBLE: No reference to EASTER and little about EGGS.
EASTRE: PAGAN GODDESS OF SPRING whose familiar was a Hare (or Rabbit) who laid brightly
coloured eggs - thus, today, chocolate Easter Eggs are wrapped in brightly coloured silver
paper.
EASTRE is also linked with ISHTAR, ASTARTE (Mother God with strong links to the
MOON).
EASTER SUNDAY is a MOVABLE date because it still depends upon the Moon Cycle: It is
always set after the first full moon after 21st.March.
Another MOON GODDESS is FREYA after whom FRIDAY is named - The only day of the
week dedicated to a WOMAN.
FISH is sacred food of FREYA, VENUS and APHRODITE - That is the
ORIGINAL reason why fish is eaten at EASTER time - not really the Christian
reason for not eating meat so as to 'avoid' eating the flesh of Christ (this
always seemed a bit far-fetched and convoluted logic to me).
FRIDAY - Taboo day to set sail.
FRIDAY 13th. - Unlucky for some.
MOON - Tides, Lunatic, Menstrual Cycles, Coven /
Witches.
EGGS: Laid by hares; symbolic of SPRING, FERTILITY, FEMALE OVUM.
EASTER - Egg Spoon Races - Ball Games: Football; EGG-SHELL rhyme - see verse
below
EGG is a
TABOO WORD AT SEA - instead, trawlermen called them Roundabout, Chuckleberries, Hen Fruit (Rabbit too in Grimsby).
EGGS
Children and eggs have strong links in Hessle Road homes. Kids were firmly told to
smash up the empty shells after eating a boiled egg. One mother always crushed her
daughter's left-over egg shell saying, "There you are, now the witches can't sail in
them". This witch clue about the origin of the taboo was confirmed at a talk to
the Hull Braves' Guild. Someone in the audience cited the opening lines of a childhood
rhyme which linked eggs with sailors. An appeal on Peter Adamson's BBC Radio Humberside 'Soap
Box' programme soon provided all the verses from listener Flora Franks. She kindly
photocopied the poem by Elizabeth Fleming (1934) called Egg-shells. It goes:
Oh,
never leave your egg-shells unbroken in the cup;
Think of us poor sailor-men and always
smash them up,
For witches come and find them and sail
away to sea,
And make a lot of misery for mariners like
me.
They take them to the sea-shore and set
them on the tide -
A broom-stick for a paddle is all they
have to guide
And off they go to China or round the
ports of Spain,
To try and keep our sailing ships from
coming home again.
They call up all the
tempests from Davy Jones's store,
And blow us into waters where we haven't
been before;
And when the masts are falling in
splinters on the wrecks,
The witches climb the rigging and dance
upon the decks.
So never leave your egg-shells unbroken in
the cup;
Think of us poor sailor-men and always
smash them up;
For witches come and find them and sail
away to sea,
And make a lot of misery for mariners like
me.
The tiny egg has been the centre of magic since creation.
Pliny (77 AD) the Roman
wrote about the fear associated with eggs: "there is no one...who does not dread
being spell-bound by means of evil imprecations; and hence the practice, after eating eggs
or snails, of immediately breaking shells or piercing them with a spoon" (Opie & Tatem, 1989, p.135). Practically all religions adopt the egg as a key symbol. A caller on
BBC Radio Humberside suggested "the egg depicts the rolling away of the stone from the
tomb of Christ" (Apr.1990). Others claim it represents the resurrection. And, indeed,
eggs are given to children on Easter Monday - a day central to the Christian calendar. But
the Bible itself has few references to eggs.
Related SUPERSTITIONS in the KITCHEN:
APRON
EGGS and BACON -
Rhyme: smash-up / re-birth / Eastre / foot-ball
PIG - Grunter / Churchill / Bible v. Pagan
TEA + TEAPOT, MUGS
SALT - Left / Tears / Sea
SUGAR - Joy
TABLE and SHOES / SITTING
BREAD BELIEFS - Flitting / Sea Bag
SPOONS / KNIVES / FORKS / SCISSORS
CORNFLAKES - Corn spirits
WASHING-DAY TABOOS - Sailing
TINS - not opened upside down
GLASS / MIRROR MAGIC
RETURN SUPERSTITIONS^