Easter is March 31st this year, so I thought I would look at a short history of the Easter egg.

For centuries the egg has been the symbol of the Christian Easter Holiday. But before that, eggs were honored by many cultures during spring festivals.

The practice of decorating eggs for Easter has been around for hundreds of years. During the Middle Ages, England’s King Edward I in 1290, spent a whopping eighteen pence for 450 eggs to be colored and gold leafed for Easter gifts.

The most famous decorated Easter eggs were made by the goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge. It was in 1883 that the Russian Czar Alexander commissioned Mr. Faberge to make a special Easter egg for his wife, Empress Marie. This egg was spectacular. It was an egg within an egg. It had an outside shell of platinum and white enamel. When opened, there was a smaller gold egg. The smaller egg opened to display a golden chicken and a jeweled replica of the Imperial Crown. Pretty fancy, huh?

Today we go down to the local store and buy an egg coloring kit to decorate our eggs for the holiday. But there are still some designers who spend time and money to create eggs that are works of art. Whether you make your decorations fancy or not, remember to have fun doing it. Happy Easter!

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Happy Birthday to Holly Turner, Friday, March 29th.

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