Q 01/05

What is the primary Christian symbolism of the Easter egg?

A) The Empty Tomb

B) The Last Supper

C) The Crown of Thorns

D) The Garden of Gethsemane

Answer · why

A) The Empty Tomb

The Empty Tomb from which Jesus rose is what the egg stands for, and cracking the shell represents his resurrection from the dead.

Q 02/05

In French tradition, what are said to fly back from Rome on Easter morning, dropping eggs for children?

A) White doves

B) Church bells

C) Storks

D) Guardian angels

Answer · why

B) Church bells

Church bells fall silent from Maundy Thursday, so French children are told they have flown to Rome; when they ring again at Easter, they are said to s...

Q 03/05

Beyond Christian symbolism, what have eggs traditionally represented across cultures?

A) Wealth and prosperity

B) War and conquest

C) Fertility and rebirth

D) Knowledge and wisdom

Answer · why

C) Fertility and rebirth

Fertility and rebirth: a chick breaking out of a seemingly lifeless shell made the egg an emblem of new life, which is why painted eggs also sit on Ir...

Q 04/05

Ukrainian pysanky take their name from the verb 'pysaty', which means what?

A) To sing

B) To dye

C) To weave

D) To write

Answer · why

D) To write

To write: the designs are not painted on but written in fine lines with a stylus, one colour at a time.

Q 05/05

Which tsar, the father of Russia's last emperor, commissioned the first Imperial Fabergé egg for his wife in 1885?

A) Alexander II

B) Nicholas I

C) Alexander I

D) Alexander III

Answer · why

D) Alexander III

Alexander III gave his wife Maria Feodorovna the Hen Egg at Easter 1885, and she was so delighted that he ordered a new egg from Fabergé every year, e...