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Easter is a Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead three days after his crucifixion on Good Friday and marking the end of the Lent. A symbol of the Resurrection is the egg out of which a bird hatches.

Easter is the time of springtime festivals, a time to welcome back the tulips, the crocuses and the daffodils. It is also the holiest day in the Christian calendar, followed by Christmas and is recognized as a legal holiday in most countries with a significant Christian tradition.

The Bulgarian Easter traditions are a variation of traditional Orthodox Easter traditions. Here in Bulgaria, egg cracking is good for more than just eating the egg!

The bright red colored egg is the symbol of Easter (or Pascha) for the Orthodox Christians all over the world. The traditional Orthodox Paschal greeting is: "Christ is Risen!" The answer is: "Indeed He is Risen". This is the greeting during 40 days after Pascha. Also, the greeting is exchanged during the ritual tapping of the eggs which is explained below.


The first egg to be made is always painted red to symbolize the blood of Christ and put aside - either to be buried in the fields to ensure fertility or kept in the home to bring good luck.

On Easter Sunday married couples traditionally visit the best man at their wedding and have roast lamb for lunch.

The Christian tradition of the red egg custom is connected to a specific legend. Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus had cured from all the evil spirits within her, was the first one to see Jesus risen from the dead and she went around the world to spread the happy news. She reached Rome and Emperor Tiberius’s palace. According to the tradition, everyone visiting him was supposed to carry a gift to the Emperor.

The rich people were carrying expensive gifts while the poor ones offered whatever they could afford. Mary Magdalene took an egg to Tiberius’s palace and handed it to the Emperor with the following greeting: ”Christ has risen from the dead!” The Emperor could not believe what he heard and responded: “How could anyone ever rise from the dead?! It is as impossible as that white egg to turn red right now!”

While Tiberius was talking, the egg in Mary Magdalene’s hands started changing its color until it finally became bright red. The Easter greeting ever since has remained “Christ has risen from the dead” and Christians all over the world color eggs in red (and various other colors) for Easter to celebrate their belief in the resurrection.