In France and Belgium, the church bells deliver and hide Easter eggs for children! Let me explain…
Church bells stop ringing in France and Belgium for three days prior to Easter to mourn the death of Jesus. Parents tell their children that the bells go off to Rome to be blessed by the Pope. Then they fly back in the middle of the night before Easter dropping eggs for children to find in their backyards. Then on Easter day, one of the adults will yell, “les cloches sont passées” (the bells have passed by) and the kids run out in search of eggs.
The eggs that are hidden used to be dyed hard-boiled eggs. They were dyed red with red onions, purple with beets or violets, green with ivy leaves, and pink with radishes.*
Nowadays, and for quite some time, the eggs that are hidden are made of chocolate and wrapped in colorful foil. Given that eggs are laid by hens, you can also find chocolate hens. Since Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus, and since in the Bible Jesus performed the miracle catch of fish, you can also find little sachets of chocolate fish in France for Easter.
*See our post about dying eggs naturally if you’re interested in trying it.
Many thanks to Monique Palomares for explaining this Easter tradition in France. Monique Palomares works with me on the French and Spanish versions of Mama Lisa’s World. -Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2020 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Belgium, Countries & Cultures, Dyeing Easter Eggs, Easter, Easter Egg Games, Easter Eggs, France, France, Holidays Around the World, Mama Lisa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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