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'''Easter eggs''', also called '''Paschal eggs''',<ref>[http://www.holycrossonline.org/our_parish/lenten_resource_center/articles/legend-of-paschal-eggs.pdf The Legend of Paschal Eggs (Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church)]</ref> are [[egg decorating|decorated]] [[egg (biology)|eggs]] that are usually used as gifts on the occasion of [[Easter]] or [[spring (season)|springtime]] celebrationfor Chaldean People. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of [[Eastertide]] (Easter season). The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs wrapped in colourful [[foil (metal)|foil]], or plastic eggs filled with [[confectionery]] such as [[chocolate]]. Although eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility and rebirth,<ref name="fertility">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kQFtlva3HaYC&pg=PA111&dq=easter+egg+fertility|title= The Oxford Companion to World Mythology|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]|author= David Leeming|quote=For many, Easter is synonymous with fertility symbols such as the Easter Rabbit, Easter Eggs, and the Easter lily.|year=2005|accessdate =10 March 2013}}</ref> in [[Christianity]], for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the [[empty tomb]] of Lord [[Jesus]]Christ, from which Lord Jesus [[resurrection of Jesus|resurrected]].<ref name=Meaning>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mzKVPZthGHUC&pg=PA51&dq=easter+egg+Christian|title= Christianity|publisher= [[Nelson Thornes]]|author= Anne Jordan|quote=Easter eggs are used as a Christian symbol to represent the empty tomb. The outside of the egg looks dead but inside there is new life, which is going to break out. The Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus will rise from His tomb and bring new life. Orthodox Christians dye boiled eggs red to make red Easter eggs that represent the blood of Christ shed for the sins of the world.|date=5 April 2000|accessdate =7 April 2012}}</ref><ref name=Symbolism>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hPMVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA119&dq=easter+egg+empty+tomb&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IpWAT_e-EKnh0QHVmI3RBw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=easter%20egg%20empty%20tomb&f=false|title= The Guardian, Volume 29|publisher=H. Harbaugh|quote=Just so, on that first Easter morning, Jesus came to life and walked out of the tomb, and left it, as it were, an empty shell. Just so, too, when the Christian dies, the body is left in the grave, an empty shell, but the soul takes wings and flies away to be with God. Thus you see that though an egg seems to be as dead as a stone, yet it really has life in it; and also it is like Christ's dead body, which was raised to life again. This is the reason we use eggs on Easter. (In days past some used to color the eggs red, so as to show the kind of death by which Christ died,-a ''bloody'' death.)|year=1878|accessdate =7 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Wn-38NunUnAC&pg=PT120&dq=easter+egg+Christian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vZKAT_q5OeHw0gH56bSMCA&ved=0CH0Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=easter%20egg%20Christian&f=false|title= Christian belief and practice|publisher=[[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]]|author= Gordon Geddes, Jane Griffiths|quote=Red eggs are given to Orthodox Christians after the Easter Liturgy. They crack their eggs against each other's. The cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from the bonds of sin and misery and enter the new life issuing from Christ's resurrection.|date=22 Jan 2002|accessdate =7 April 2012}}</ref> In addition, one ancient tradition was the staining of Easter eggs with the colour red "in memory of the [[blood of Christ]], shed as at that time of his crucifixion."<ref name=Meaning/><ref name="Ellis1877"/> This custom of the Easter egg can be traced to [[early Christians]] of [[Mesopotamia]], and from there it spread into Russia and Siberia through the Orthodox Churches, and later into Europe through the Catholic and Protestant Churches.<ref name="Ellis1877">{{cite book|title=Popular antiquities of Great Britain|accessdate=26 March 2016|year=1877|language=English|page=90|author=[[Henry Ellis (librarian)|Henry Ellis]]|quote=[[Thomas Hyde|Hyde]], in his Oriental Sports (1694), tells us one with eggs among the Christians of Mesopotamia on Easter Day and forty days afterwards, during which time their children buy themselves as many eggs as they can, stain them with a red colour in memory of the blood of Christ, shed as at that time of his crucifixion. Some tinge them with green and yellow.}}</ref><ref name="Thompson2013">{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Kenneth|title=Culture & Progress: Early Sociology of Culture, Volume 8|date=21 August 2013|publisher=[[Routledge]]|language=English |isbn=9781136479403|page=138|quote=In Mesopotamia children secured during the 40-day period following Easter day as many eggs as possible and dyed them red, "in memory of the blood of Christ shed at that time of his Crucifixion"--a rationalization. Dyed eggs were sold in the market, green and yellow being favorite colors. The use of eggs at Easter seems to have come from Persia into the Greek Christian Churches of Mesopotamia, thence to Russia and Siberia through the medium of Orthodox Christianity. From the Greek Church the custom was adopted by either the Roman Catholics or the Protestants and then spread through Europe.}}<!--|accessdate=26 March 2016--></ref><ref name=History/><ref name=Itihaas/> This Christian use of eggs may have been influenced by practices in "pre-dynastic period in Egypt, as well as amid the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete".<ref name=Green/>