Hunting Down the Home of Easter Eggs

Devouring a handful of milk chocolate Easter eggs or hunting around the backyard for plastic ones are two behaviors that are, well, all Greek to the Greeks. In Greece, where the practice of dying eggs for Easter originated, the custom continues to be a deeply felt religious ritual. The eggs (real ones needless to say) are dyed on Holy Thursday (the Thursday preceding Easter Sunday) and are eaten after midnight mass on Holy Saturday as a way of breaking the Lenten fast. In Greece, Easter eggs are always dyed a deep red, symbolizing the blood of Christ, while the egg itself represents life and regeneration. In some parts of northern Greece the eggs are not just dyed, they are also hand painted with figures, often of birds–a symbol of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. But be careful, you wouldn’t want to commit one of the seven deadly sins (of food and wine).