egg size: 2 5/8"x2"
size including stand about 3 inch tall
A CHRISTIAN TRADITION as well as a wonderful gift
RED EGGS. Why does the Church and many ethnic traditions distribute “red” colored eggs the
celebration of Pascha (Easter)? There are many and varied explanations: that Mary Magdalene aer
seeing the empty tomb on that /rst Pascha morning went to the Roman Emperor to tell him the news of
Christ’s resurrection. Although the emperor already knew, he challenged her that he would believe the
claim if the eggs in a basket near him turned “red,” which they did instantaneously. There are other oral
traditions one of which the eggs turned “red” from the tears of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross.
WHY AN EGG? An Egg is a symbol of the new life and rebirth used in antiquity and by many cultures.
One source cites St Augustine likening Christ burs!ng forth from the tomb as a chick emerging from an
egg’s shell.
WHY RED? In antiquity “red” was the color of “power and might” as well as “beauty.” In Chris!an
terms the “power” of Christ’s Resurrection. Some say it represents Christ’s blood.
In Russian the word for “red” and “beauty” are the same. Red is a liturgical color for Pascha in many
Eastern traditions.
These eggs are traditonal designs hand painted in the Ukraine. They are called “pysanky” which is based
on the word to “write.” For us the red egg writes the story of our victory in Christ in the Resurrection –
For “Christ Is Risen From The Dead and By His Death He Has Conquered Death Giving Life To Those In The
Tombs.”
A CHRISTIAN TRADITION as well as a wonderful gift.
Copyright: Alexandra Internatonal 2017
