Paint them, get candy from inside of them, hide them and maybe find them a year or two later. What else can this be other than, of course, Easter eggs. With many Easter egg hunts upcoming, there might be some people who actually don’t know why people do egg hunts on Easter.

Easter is a Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pastor Mike Haddox of First Presbyterian Church in Waynesburg elaborated on the true meaning behind Easter eggs. 

“The egg has always been a symbol of religious sects and movements of fertility and new life,” said Haddox. “Augustine used the egg for one of his sermons as a symbol of hope. The hope looks dead on the outside, but there’s something new growing on the inside, and he used that to talk about life and Jesus.”

He also explained that there are some traditions that say the tradition of Easter eggs started when Mary Magdalene went to the emperor after Jesus had died. She said, “Christ has risen,” and as she presented eggs, the emperor said, “Christ is no more alive than those eggs are red.” Haddox then explained that the eggs turned red. 

Haddox also spoke about getting together with other local churches to collectively hold a big Easter egg hunt, which was started by an idea that Joshua Koss, the lead pastor at Crosspoint Assembly of God inWaynesburg, had for the future of Easter egg hunts in the area. This Easter egg hunt will take place at the Greene County Airport, on Saturday, April 12, at 11 a.m. during a spring festival from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“There’s a group of pastors that we meet with once a month, and Josh Koss suggested pulling our resources together and doing one for the community and doing an egg drop,” said Haddox. “Two years ago was the first year they did it, and they dropped over 10,000 eggs from a helicopter.”

Haddox said people are starting to forget why Easter is celebrated, and that it’s not just for the candy. That is why this egg drop is so important to him, as there would be more of a chance of talking to people about the true reason why Easter is celebrated, which again, is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Pat Bristor is the associate dean of students at Waynesburg University, and she runs the annual Waynesburg University Easter egg hunt. She explained how important the Waynesburg community is when doing an event like this. 

“Our Easter egg hunt we have been working on since after spring break,” said Bristor. “We send out communication to the campus community as well as the Waynesburg community, asking for donations as prizes for the Easter egg hunt. So the more donations we have, the more eggs we can hide.”

With all of this preparation going into the event, it can be hard to keep track of everything, but Bristor has run the Easter egg hunt successfully ever since 1996. Bristor has found new ways to limit people who might follow the staff who hide the eggs.

“I don’t advertise when the event is because when we used to put it on the calendar, students knew when it was and they would follow me and my staff,” said Bristor. “Now we don’t hang up the fliers until we hide the eggs.”

Meg Barry is a senior at Waynesburg University, and she has a couple of Easter egg traditions that she does with her family.

“We do an egg toss every year, with real eggs, of course. My cousin Marina and I are partners every single year,” said Barry. “We also do a spoon egg race, where you balance an egg on a spoon and do a relay race.”

She goes to church on Good Friday, but spends Easter with her whole family. She also said that her family is Greek, so they always have to go overboard with the food.

Easter is a time for fun and joy, but more importantly, it’s also the time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.