Easter eggs
The forty days before Easter (not counting Sundays) are known to Christians as Lent. Lent is traditionally a time when Christians fast. In the past one of the foods Christians were not allowed to eat during Lent was eggs. The day before Lent became known as Pancake Day because people made pancakes to use up all their eggs. Giving hen, duck or goose eggs at Easter was therefore not just symbolic but also very welcome.
This picture shows a display of hens’ eggs in a Sainsbury’s shop window in North End, Croydon in about 1930. The eggs have been painted different colours to spell out the word ‘EASTER’. Today, in some parts of Europe, people still paint and decorate hen, duck and goose eggs as Easter gifts.