You
might also suspect that a holiday celebrated on Easter Monday would
only be celebrated by Christians. But again, you'd be wrong.
Egyptians of every religion celebrate “Smell the Spring Day.”
The
holiday started with ancient Egyptians. They offered salted fish,
lettuce, and onions to their gods and goddesses in celebration of the
arrival of spring. When Christianity swept through Egypt, in the 200s
and 300s, the holiday became attached to Easter. Later, of course,
Islam took over, but the springtime holiday remained
linked to the Eastern Christian calendar.
Smelling
the spring traditionally involves breaking open an onion and smelling
it, but most people smell the spring through simply being outside in
nature. People often picnic in public gardens, along the banks of the
Nile River, or at the zoo.
The
traditional foods eaten on this holiday haven't changed much from the
ancient fare: salted fish, scallions or green onions, and lettuce.
Two additions are Lupini beans and colored hard-boiled eggs.
You
may already know that humans first lived in Africa (which is where
Egypt is, of course). But perhaps you didn't know that ancient humans
in Africa were already decorating eggs 60 THOUSAND YEARS AGO!
Scientists have found colored and engraved ostrich eggs that were that old—and
all I can say is, “Wow!”
Decorated
ostrich eggs have also been found in Ancient Egyptian tombs from 5
thousand years ago—along with gold or silver copies of decorated
eggs.
I
guess it's safe to say that decorated eggs AREN'T necessarily “Easter
eggs”!
Also
on this date:
