Where does the Easter egg originate?


Images of the egg, connected with the Bird Goddess go back 16,000-1500 BC:

“The egg belongs to the mythology of the Bird Goddess as the source of life. The egg is also related to water as the primordial... element in which life gestates, because the foetus-egg first comes alive in the waters of the womb. The egg and the egg-shaped womb are both images of the beginning of life: the single egg divides, becomes two, and from the separation of the two halves – female and male, heaven and earth – creation comes. This motif, originating in the Paleolithic era, is clearly painted on Neolithic vessels several thousand years before it appears in the great Bronze Age civilizations of Sumeria, Egypt, and Crete. The memory of this myth lingers in the customs of Easter Eggs, and also in the old wives’ tale of the stork bringing the baby.




“The egg as womb is a favourite image of the artists of Old Europe…Goddess, egg, bird, and serpent are four elements that are inseparable in the mythic images of Old Europe.”

-Anne Baring and Jules Cashford “The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image”

Artwork: Slavic Bird Goddess and hand-painted eggs with ancient imagery.

Thank you Jenna Farr Ludwig for this wonderful post!!

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