They Have Embroidered Eggs In France
Coloured Easter eggs are beginning to make their annual appearance in France, and in every market, and outside every provision shop, are to be seen the familiar piles of red Easter eggs. They are ordinary eggs dyed. In the confectioners' shops there are a host of sugar-candy and chocolate eggs, and one confectioner's shop in the Rue du Bac, Paris. has in its, window two highly fancy chocolate eggs made in I 8-101
Embroidered Eggs Sheet Among the curiosities in eggs may be mentioned the embroidered eggs of Rmaen. A number of these are to be seen in the local museum, and in the suburbs of Rouen there is a Rue des Oeufs Brodes, or Embroidered Eggs Street.
The eggs embroidered are ostrich eggs, and they are for the most part the work of an inhabitant of Rouen. A hole about half an inch in diameter is cut at the top and another at the bottom of the egg, and through these holes long curved needles are passed which pierce the sides of the shell where the threads go through. The eggs are embroidered with the arms of the town of Rouen, local views, or curious designs and inscriptions. It takes between three and six months to embroider an egg.
Why Eggs ?
But why the Easter egg? An egg since earliest times has been a symbol of rebirth, and in many ceremonies of the Church it became the symbol of the resurrection. Thus at Angers, in days gone by, an ostrich egg was very much in honour at the Easter service. Egg carriers taking part in the miracle play represented the holy woman emerging from the tomb of Christ, and each held an ostrich egg set in a finely worked mounting, and as they advanced towards the Bishop they chanted Resurrexit. After the service the eggs were put back into the sacristy for the following year's service.