EASTER EGGS
People think it’s fun to proclaim Easter traditions as silly and consumerist. And yes, that may be true to some extent, but don’t you dare say anything bad about Easter Eggs! They are genius! Throughout history, eggs have been used as a symbol of rebirth, and used in many Spring traditions throughout ancient history:
Ancient Persians painted eggs in celebration of Nowrooz, their New Years celebration, which falls on the Spring Equinox. There are sculptures on the walls of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire, depicting followers bringing eggs to the temple in celebration of the New Year.
Eggs dipped in saltwater are often the first item of food eaten during Passover Seder. Symbolic of rebirth, eggs are often served to mourners after a funeral, and are therefore used to symbolize the (non-human) sacrifices made at the Temple of Jerusalem during ancient Passover traditions.
Pre-Christian Saxons celebrated the goddess Eostre (sounds a lot like a certain holiday, eh?) with a feast on the Spring Equinox, which of course included eggs, symbolizing the rebirth of Spring. Oh, and wouldn’t you know it, the symbol of the goddess Eostre was the hare.
In Christianity, the egg is a symbol of the tomb of Jesus after his crucifixion. While appearing dormant on the outside, the hard shell of the egg represents the rock encasing the resurrected life inside. Orthodox Christian eggs are traditionally dyed red to represent the blood of Christ.
So you see, Easter Eggs make perfect sense! Maybe you might want to consider dying eggs this year. Not as a symbol of your religion, but as a celebration of humanity and the traditions that bring us together, which are more alike than we may realize. And then go buy some of those Reeses peanut butter eggs. Yum!
NOW TEACH ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW!
I concur wholeheartedly… Mama Polt is an outstanding buckeye maker.
I <3 Mama Polt
::snicker:: that <3 looks like something comepletely different than a heart…
Craig: Practice before I get there. Task, ask, task, ask.
I thought it was an urban black youth thing. Are you hanging out with a gang?
Polt: I’m sure they are lovely, your Mama’s buckeyes, but I would hate to wretch in front of the poor woman while I tried to eat one to be polite.
Dave S: I’m glad you answered my question about the <3, I was going to axe you if you had lost your mind.
Tam: Have you ever tried Virgina gourmet peanuts? They are the large ones that are fried in peanut oil and look like they have little blisters all over them. They don’t taste anything like the puny GA peanuts that you get in p-nut butter or those little bags.
Mark: Virgina? Seriously?
I’ve never seen a single one having sex, I swear!
Damn wireless keyboard!
Here’s a fun fact:
Just because you’re the 17th person on line out of 2,000 for a Jeopardy audition doesn’t mean you’ll make it onto the show. Overeagerness is not a category.
Mark: Never had the occassion. My uncle (the same one who made me gag) tried growing peanuts one year. I don’t think it worked, too short of a season up here. I’ll keep an eye out for Virginia peanuts, but might have to go to Virginia to find them. We have Planters up here though? Go Mr. Peanut.
<3 looks like <3 when it gets emailed.
Tam: The bad part is that Planters peanuts was founded near here, in Suffolk VA. The local hospital is named after Amedeo Obici, the founder of Planters. Yet they only use puny GA style peanuts in their products. But thats because the large VA/NC peanuts are reserved for gourmet purposes.
Oh God, I sound like I’m working for th Chamber of Commerce.
Mark: I had my day to promote Canadian Beef (that was a TMST as well), today is Virginia Peanut day.
I saw the Alton Brown show on Food Network where he talked about different types of peanuts, but up here we get only one kind and I have no idea what they are. Probably Georgia, I think they are pretty small.
And what the heck kind of name is Amedeo Obici? Did he wear a monocle and top hat?
Tam: LOL, no he was from Italy. And actually the hospital was named after his wife Louise. Their remains are interred in the garden of the hospital.
Hey, it is TMST, so I’m not just rambling!
At the Hayden tenement pickled eggs are preferred over easter eggs. Anyone else like them or even know about them?
Hayden: I’ve never actually had a pickled egg, but they are very popular in bars in Western Canada. Its kind of a cliche to have a gigantic jar of pickled eggs sit on the bar. I’ve heard the side effects are kind of nasty.
Tam: they are soooo good with beer…..
Mark, I’m not sure I’d place a lot of confidence in a hospital that had a cemetery attached.
I LOVE Cadbury Cream eggs! They are available in Europe all year long, but are usually on available in the US around Easter. I used to have my English cousins bring some over on their visits.
Craig: Do you also say “So I sez…”, when recounting a story. I think I speak mostly normaly, however my southern boss acuses my of throwing a W in the middle of “coffee”, and ending “gas” with a Z.
Heather: Now that I think about it; There has been one or two people who have died at that hospital. Maybe even three! Don’t know where they are buried though. I’ll do some digging!
Chris D.: Fugetabowtit!
I can’t eat cream eggs (ready for more of my weird food issues?). I hate runny egg yolk and the yellow stuff in the middle of a cream egg reminds me of that, so it makes me gag again. Sigh. I seem to have an active gag reflex don’t I?
While we’re at it, ice-cream that has been half-melted and stirred up in a bowl? That REALLY gets me, just thinking about it makes me feel queezy.
Tam: The engagement is off. I Love eggs with runny yolks on toast. You use the extra toast to swipe up the yolk from your plate.
And I “always” stir up my ice cream until its like soft serve, then eat it.
But at least now when you come to visit I won’t have to axe you how you like yor eggs.
Mark: Scrambled, scrambled always works. I’m sorry we can’t work out our differences. I hope you find another straight girl to share your BF with and you will be very happy together. *sniff* *sniff*
Mark & Tam: “Like sands through the hourglass…”
I hate pickled eggs, although they’re a big thing around here. And if we’re talking about dialects, here it’s big to say “You-ins” like “You-ins all like pickled eggs, right?” HATE that….
HUGS…
<3 is a heart????? Good GOD, I always thought it meant like you were kissing the object of the <3! Which IS kinda like a heart, but not really.
Man, this really IS a Teach ME Something Tuesday!
HUGS…
A friend of mine recently made pickled eggs and shared them with me. I have to say, they were a lot better than I was expecting! Though I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Pickles? Hard boiled eggs? What’s not to love?
I think I’m afraid to try pickled eggs. Not sure why. I like hard boiled eggs, I like pickles. Maybe someday, when I’m back in a hick bar in Western Canada. Oh wait, that means never. Guess I’ll have to go visit Hayden then.
Polt: This is what you type when someone breaks your heart </3 See, its been sliced. Learned that from my 13 year old. Drama queen.
Tam: My eyes saw “Drama queen”, my subconscious said “Dancing queen”, and my conscious memory conjured up Frank Zappa’s “Dancin’ fool”.
Which is how I’ve ended up sitting in my office, singing “I’m a…drama queen-ee-eee-ee-eeen, I’m a … drama queee-eee-eeen-ee-een. I may be totally wrong but I’m a queen!”
Why yes, that IS way too much information.
“Tweet: Craig really needs to start exercising. His pants are suffocating him.”
That sounds like either a cheezy opening line to an adult film, or the premise of a wickedly awesome Clive Barker novella.
Jelly Beans originated as a smaller form of Turkish Delight and first became popular during the American Civil War. They became associated with Easter in the 1930s.
Corresponding with the release of the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Jelly Belly released an assortment of Bertie Bott’s Beans. They have egg yolk flavored beans and pickle flavored beans, which I suppose could be combined to make pickled egg flavored beans. Or you could just eat a vomit bean, which probably tastes similar.
2pi: i love clive barker
Craigger’s pants are so lucky. (but I wonder…are there mesh shorts underneath?) *snicker*
HUGS…
There is nothing between me and Craig. He goes commando.
Michelle: Too funny on the pickled egg comment.
Have you ever had real Turkish Delight from turkey. ACK!!! Jelly beans are waaaay better. (Except for those weird flavors.)
Shoot , that should have been a second capitalized turkey, not made from turkey (gobble gobble) but from the country. Candy made from turkeys? I don’t think so.
I want to walk down the aisle to David Bowie’s “Modern Love”
*nods to himself*
Tam – some candy is made with gelatin (horses hooves/connective tissue – yum), so maybe turkey candy isn’t so far fetched.
GoKitty – Great song.
Where’s john?
I’m not allowed to surf the internets at work anymore, which let’s me onto puntabulous only in the evening, when y’alls are all commented out. So I just read the daily thread and long for the good old days.
bernd – been there. I feel your pain.
Every so often Craig posts at night (which is lovely for us night owls). Night posts are awesome. Hint, hint.
Oh – and there’s always the Argyle Lounge. Which is mysteriously underutilized…
Bernd: That is sad.
We miss you lots.
Polt: is my version of a heart because it has an “E” in it. You probably never understood when I did that at the end of comments/posts…
There were two discrete Hittite Empires. The one mentioned in the Bible was the smaller one. The other one defeated the three major empires of its time (Babylonia, Assyria and Egypt), but within three hundred years had collapsed and was virtually erased from history. Its capital, Hattusa, was in modern-day Turkey and it used an Indo-European language: their word for ‘water’ was ‘awa-ta-ur’ – one of the oldest recorded citations of a (phonetically) modern English word.
I’m feeling kind of OCD about making this thread reach 100.
I love how Sven’s post brings up Turkey which leads to Turkish delight, which ties into jelly beans which brings us back to eggs and Easter and the original post. Well done.
Enrickyricardo: I don’t understand much of what you write, but you’re just so damn adorable, I pretend I do and just go with the flow. Now, Richard Parker and I, we understand each other as if we read each other’s minds! And he’s like more lettuce, by the way, he’s hungry.
HUGS…
I’m always disappointed by Easter in the US, in Germany it’s always a 4 day weekend. Good Friday and Easter monday are national Holidays, but here, if you didn’t know it was Easter…, mope.
I can’t stand peanut-butter candy. But ‘natural’ peanut-butter, just made from peanuts and salt is great on a PB-J sandwich, and so healthy.
Xi-Heather, you asked what you’d put on a Banana sandwich instead of PB? Nutella of course. http://www.nutellausa.com/ That’s what German kids grow up with, swoon.
Bernd: Its a four day weekend for me. In Canada Friday is a national holiday and Monday is usually just banks, schools and government, retail is open on the Monday. I always look forward to a 4 day weekend. I’m off all next week next week and we are heading south of the border. So I have a super long weekend.
Nutella. MMMMMMMMM! I buy way more Nutella than peanut butter. We use a lot of that. Nutella on toast. But no banana, just straight up.
Post 100 for the win!!!!!
On an Easter theme, when I was about 6 I got this wonderful foil covered rabbit that was kind of air brushed to look like a real rabbit. I refused to rip the foil to eat it. That rabbit sat in the fridge for nearly a year until my Grandmother finally chucked it. Talk about indulgence to let a kid keep a chocolate rabbit in the fridge for a year. I was even odd as a child. Sigh. (Which I’m sure surprises no one.)