General Chat

My grandson (aged 8) informed me that Eggs were a part of Easter, because the stone rolled over Christ's tomb was egg shaped!!
His teacher told him that, so, being a supporter of teachers, didn't feel I could contradict her. :-|

All she had to say was (particularly this year), is that Easter falls on/near the Spring Equinox, or, if you like, the start of Spring, which is a time when flowers start blooming, and baby animals are being born. An egg is a baby chicken - job done, with no embarrassment about sex and fertility, and the child isn't told a load of Bull!

Now, when Easter is over, poor young G is going to get a serious lesson on the 'positioning' of Christian Festivals and their relation to Pagan Festivals. :-D :-D

Edit: if they MUST teach religion in schools, I'd rather they didn't turn it into a Fairy Tale.

I always understood that CofE was the "state" religion in the UK, and that was why we had to start each school day with a hymn, a prayer and a reading ............ and have Religious Education up until about the 3rd form in high school.

Now, I know that things have changed dramatically in England, and that there is PC concerning religion, so that every festival connected with every other religion has to be taught, discussed, and called by its correct name, while the poor Anglican religion is not to be mentioned ....................


or at least that is what it seems to me looking in from outside and only reading about "religion" in schools with you, and with us.

The egg/rock story was what I grew up with.

We were given hard boiled eggs to decorate..... went for a walk on Easter Sunday & rolled the eggs down a hill........ had to keep rolling them until the shell broke... then we were allowed to eat the egg.

I didn't get a chocolate egg until I was about 8..... from my aunt...... and my very religous grandmother thought it was a terrible thing.

My maternal grandparents were Brethren...... left them because grandad said they were a lot of hypocrites ....... and they joined the Presbyterians!

One of my rellies was a Bishop. He even founded a few schools. Nobody seems to have come to much harm as a result even though he was very keen on egg rolling :-)

On the other hand........the egg/rock theory goes some way to explain to them why they have Eggs at Easter.
The shops sell Easter eggs, not Spring Equinox eggs ;-)

Oh dear......here I go again.....wanting to defend my faith.....*sigh*


Eggs have been associated with the Christian festival of Easter, which celebrates the death and resurrection of Christ since the early days of the church and yes, Christian customs connected with Easter eggs are, to some extent, adaptations of ancient pagan practices related to spring rites.

The egg has long been a symbol of 'fertility', 'rebirth' and 'the beginning' and some Christians do regard the egg as a symbol for the stone being rolled from the tomb, but generally it is symbolised as 'new life' coming from something which is dead.

After the fasting of Lent, eggs were often given as gifts at Easter.

The earliest Easter eggs were hen or duck eggs decorated at home in bright colours with vegetable dye and charcoal. Orthodox Christians and many cultures continue to dye Easter eggs, often decorating them with flowers.

Egg rolling has it own history and is still much enjoyed.

Many churches will give out Easter eggs on Sunday morning.

Christianity is the state religion for this country - the Church of England is the established church and in order of precedence, the Archbishop is ranked immediately after the royal family and before the Prime Minister.

Sylvia, your first paragraph was spot on with my school religious experience.

Although I know about the stone story, have never heard of it being linked to Easter eggs until now and I find it ludicrous. Eggs are rebirth, new life and hope - spring flowers, lambs and even the Easter bunny tie in with new life. This is why Easter eggs are given on Easter Day and not Good Friday.

My grandchildren are all at different schools - none has been to the same school as another - and the Easter story as we knew it has been taught at all of them. Their schools have had 'paste' egg competitions - dyed, painted/decorated hard-boiled eggs although that was something we did at home as children and not at school. Each school has taught aspects of other religions while emphasising Christianity. This broadens children's awareness of the world. My oldest grandchild attends the most diversely-religious school in the area and ALL of the children took part in the Christmas concerts that were held in her primary school.

Left to themselves, children want to integrate, to play and talk with other children. They do not want to be different from those around them.

The danger of keeping religion out of schools is that those religions who have specific religious classes on Saturdays tend to teach only one religion. It is my feeling that children need to be aware of the world around them and current religious instruction at the schools that I have mentioned achieves this while upholding the centuries-old religious beliefs of the country we live in - tthe belief that is responsible for much of our legislation, eg thou shalt not kill, steal etc.

I have no problem with schools teaching children about different religions - jolly good thing, AS LONG as those teaching stick to the facts (such as they are) and don't wander off into La La land, in an attempt to 'explain' things they obviously know nothing about! :-S

In the end all religions come down to personal belief but given the multiplicity of religions in the World they can't all be right.
So are any, as they virtually all contadict each other?

I would say they all have more in common with each other, than not.
It all comes down to interpretation! :-S

"Religion fortifies us in the face of death".

(A quote I read somewhere that still lurks in the dark recesses of my dwindling memory.)

That's one thing all religions have in common, Dermot!! :-D

Maggie, your 9:11 response to Brian's post is exactly what mine would be.

I can never find any evidence that teaching of religion in schools is having a negative impact on general educational standards.

But maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

Oh the other hand,,,,,if it were not for *religion*some wouldnt have these celebrations,easter.christmas etc,,,,,, :-D.

I wasnt taught any RI in school,.I was excused from it,,,,, :-D :-D :-D.

I was taught religion in school, but neither there nor at home have I ever heard that the eggs have anything to do with the shape of the stone. :-0

It's not a commonly held belief Rose and regarded by some as a myth.

Tombs at that time were generally sealed with either square or round stones apparently. :-)

That's what I thought Cynthia :-)

Rose, see my 8.25 posting. I, too, have never come across the stone/egg story and I I worked alongside clergy for several years.

So this morning I spoke with a senior clergyman, one of my colleagues for some years, and I asked him about this.

He replied that the stone/egg story is a complete myth, as you mentioned Cynthia.

He went on to confirm that the Easter egg symbolises new life - so Rose, what you were taught and what you and I believe is true.

As I suffered church 3 times very Sunday and went to C of E schools and therefore was taught RE religiously (pun intended) I have never heard any correlation between Easter eggs and tomb sealing.

Do schools come up with an explanation between Bethlehem and Christmas trees? I think not.

Sue