Thursday 28 March 2013

Easter Food Traditions


Traditional Easter food is bound to have some of the classic staples around the table, from butter lambs to ham and hard-boiled eggs decorated in myriad colors. Easter continues to be celebrated around the world for centuries, and over the centuries some foods have grown to be so firmly associated with the Easter holiday that lots of families can’t imagine Easter dinner without one.

Eggs


Eggs were symbols of life, fertility, immortality and rebirth in lots of cultures. Pagans often colored and ate eggs during spring festivals, celebrating the return of the sun's rays after winter and the fertility of new soil. The pagan tradition of including eggs in spring festivals carried over very naturally into Christian tradition, where the egg symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus and the immortality.

Lamb and Ham

The tradition of eating lamb or ham at Easter finds its roots in pagan times. Pagans would preserve meat to consume throughout the winter. By the time spring arrived and livestock started to reproduce, people would consume the last of the cured or salted meat, understanding that there would soon be more. Lamb can also be directly associated with Jesus, known as the "lamb of God."

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns get their origin in the pagan springtime festival honoring the goddess Eostre or Ostara, from whose name "Easter" comes. The buns, decorated with small crosses to represent the quarters of the moon or perhaps a bull's horns, were thought to ensure fertility and also the goddess' protection in the coming year. These buns were integrated into Christian tradition. Today the cross represents that where Jesus was crucified, and the buns are eaten through the Easter season.

Candy

The Christian tradition of eating candy eggs and rabbits, both symbols of life and fertility, originates from the pagan idea that you could assume the qualities of confirmed symbol by eating something that represented it. Candy rabbits and eggs are a good way of celebrating the essence of spring and also the qualities of fertility and life.

Nest Cakes

Nest cakes really are a cute food item to serve at Easter. These cakes are no-bake, so they're fast and straight-forward to make. Follow the recipe for any regular chocolate corn flake or rice crispy cake. Place the mixture in individual cake cases, making a dent in the middle, so the cake is formed like a nest. Refrigerate the cakes until they're set, after which place miniature chocolate or candy eggs within the dent of the nests.

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns really are a traditionally eaten at Easter. Based on John Ayto in "An A-Z of Food & Drink," this tradition might have come about in Tudor times, if this was illegal to sell such buns apart from on Good Friday, Christmas or at burials. They're current buns, baked with cinnamon and nutmeg, and have a lighter-colored cross on their tops. Today, the cross is viewed to represent the cross which Jesus was crucified. However, individuals have eaten buns with crosses in it at Pagan Easter celebrations dating to the ancient Greeks.

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