Present in the most remote times they accompanied man in the celebration of crucial moments. Decorate, colored, carved, done of clay, of chocolate or simply of hen. The Easter egg. A must of our tradition. Today we find it simply on the shelf of a supermarket like any other commercial product. but yet behind each egg there is a very long story.
The transformation over time
The egg is by itself symbol of life. This is why he was the protagonist of some pagan rites. In an era in which man marked his existence through the rhythms of Nature, it was essential to propitiate the alternation of the seasons. Thus the awakening of the earth was celebrated with the use of eggs. The custom of was already widespread in Persia give chicken eggs to celebrate the arrival of the spring. An event so important to be considered a sort of "agricultural new year".
Chinese, Greek ed Egyptians in their ancient empires they welcomed the March solstice with the staging of rituals in which the egg acquired a sacred meaning. So to make them more themed, the eggs were "dressed up". Painted, colored and decorated by skilled hands. But the egg also concealed other values. So it was with the religions that supported the cult of reincarnation. Then it will be understood why clay eggs were found in some tombs. A good omen to ensure the cycle of rebirth.
One egg, many materials
The birth of Christianity led to the reworking of previous pagan cults. Removed the creed of reincarnation, the eggs find their place in dogma of the resurrection. In particular in the Middle Ages the practice of the egg began to spread Easter. Given on occasion in spring during pagan rites and equally given in view of Easter according to the new religion. A particular coincidence of period. Again there took hold need to embellish simple chicken eggs. Just like for a gift, we choose paper and ribbon to make it more attractive. At first they were boiled to make them hard. Then wrapped in leaves and colored through the maceration of flowers in the same cooking water. But fashion, you know, changes .
And so here it is a more precious garment: silver and gold. Thin metal sheets wrapped the shells giving the egg an aristocratic touch. The idea probably pleased the nobility of the time and favored the birth of artificial eggs. It was theFabergé goldsmith to create, towards the end of the 800th century, a platinum egg that contained two equally precious surprises. The sculpture was shaped to pay homage to Tsarina Maria at the Court of the Romanovs where Fabergé was in service. Thus was born the idea of the egg with surprise.
Easter egg today
So how do we get to the current chocolate eggs? It takes several centuries for this artisan production to evolve. From liquid chocolate it will in fact be necessary to switch to the solid one, as well as numerous other refinements that will gradually develop the Easter egg we know today. The first tests of chocolate in solid bars date back to the 600th century in various European countries, including Italy. Not surprisingly, in the following century, in Turin the ancestors of modern eggs began to take shape.
The same happened in the France of the Sun King who granted the master chocolatier David Chaillou the right to sell chocolate throughout Paris. Sweets, biscuits and eggs filled the banquets of eighteenth-century France. Then gradually spread over the course of the 800th century, especially on the occasion of Easter, the eggs, however, had the characteristic of being full chocolate. Only in the 900s did they acquire today's appearance. Two chocolate halves to create an empty internal space where a little surprise is placed. If you bought an Easter egg again this year, remember that behind that common product there is actually a long wisdom almost as much as the history of man.
