For many generations, Greeks have celebrated Pascha (Easter) by breaking red eggs. The delightful game is fun for the family and the custom is rich with religious symbolism. Egg cracking has become a fun custom for the Orthodox of all ages in Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia, and elsewhere, and many look forward to it each Easter despite its profound religious significance.
The practise of dyeing eggs red is to symbolize the blood of Christ during his crucifixion. This can be traced back to the earliest Christians in Mesopotamia. Later, the Catholic and Protestant churches brought the tradition to Western Europe. But, when people from many various cultures, particularly those in Eastern Europe, began to paint intricate, multicoloured Easter eggs, the tradition spread throughout Europe.
In Greece, North America, Australia, Cyprus, Germany, England, and wherever Greeks live in the world, dyeing eggs red is a staple tradition of Greek Orthodox Easter
The egg itself represents the sealed tomb of Jesus, and the cracking of the egg symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus and exit from the tomb.
The egg serves as a symbol of the resurrection due to its theological significance, and its Easter decoration variations are widely recognized as a symbol of the most important day in the Christian calendar—Pascha (Easter), the event that sealed the promise of eternal life.
According to some followers of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Mary Magdalene is believed to be responsible for the Easter custom of painting eggs red. Some Christians hold the belief that Mary Magdalene carried the cooked eggs to the tomb of Jesus to share with the other women, and that when she saw the risen Christ, the eggs in her basket miraculously turned brilliant red.
