Eggs are often identified with Easter. Long a symbol of fertility and immortality, the egg reminds Christians of the rock tomb from which Christ arose. In Medieval Europe, eggs were forbidden during Lent. Eggs laid during that time were often boiled or otherwise preserved. Eggs were thus a mainstay of Easter meals, and a prized Easter gift for children. It is said that King Edward I of England (1307) distributed 450 boiled Easter eggs, dyed or covered with gold leaf, to members of the royal household. Common symbols in the designs used today include the sun (good fortune), rooster or hen (fulfillment of wishes), stag or deer (good health), and flowers (love and charity).

Although rabbits have long been a symbol of spring, chocolate bunnies are a relatively new phenomenon. Hares and rabbits have long been symbols of fertility, but the inclusion of the hare into Easter customs appears to have originated in Germany, where tales were told of an "Easter hare" who laid eggs for children to find. German immigrants to America -- particularly Pennsylvania -- brought the tradition with them and spread it to a wider public. They also baked cakes for Easter in the shape of hares, and may have pioneered the practice of making chocolate bunnies and eggs.

The Whole Earth Holiday Book connects the rabbit and colored eggs with the story of a poor woman who could afford no sweets for her children on Easter. She colored some eggs and hid them in a nest for her children to find. During the hunt, the children spotted a large hare in the bushes. They told their friends the bunny had left the eggs, and so the Easter bunny story began.

According to Sue Ellen Thompson's Holiday Symbols 1998, hot cross buns have a long springtime history. First-century pagans worshiped the goddess Eostre, after whom Easter was named, and served her small cakes, often decorated with a cross, at their yearly spring celebration. Today, hot cross buns--small buns decorated with a sweet icing in the shape of a cross--are associated with Good Friday.

Easter Parades began as, after their baptisms, early Christians wore white robes all through Easter Week to indicate their new lives. Those who had already been baptized wore new clothes instead, to symbolize their sharing a new life with Christ. In Medieval Europe, chruchgoers would take a walk after Easter Mass, led by a crucifix or the Easter candle. Today these walks endure as Easter Parades. People show off their spring finery, including lovely bonnets decorated for spring.

The Easter Lily, also known by its Latin name Lilium longiflorum, has become the traditional Easter flower. With all the different flowers available in the spring garden, it is this beautiful, white flower, that has come to symbolize the spiritual values of Easter: purity, life and renewel. The flower's trumpet shape is a reminder of the heralding of Jesus, returning triumphant to Jerusalem. Native to Japan, Easter Lilies were imported to the United States until 1941, when World War II prompted Americans to start growing their own bulbs. According to Biblical scholars, the Easter Lily was found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas is said to have betrayed Jesus. Legend tells that white lilies miraculously sprung up from the ground where drops of Jesus' sweat and tears fell during his last hours. The Easter Lily also has close associations with Jesus' mother, the Virgin Mary. In early religious paintings, the Archangel Gabriel is pictured extending a branch of white lilies to Mary, symbolizing that she had become the virgin mother to the savior. Today, many churches use large bouquets of lilies to adorn their alters and crosses during the Easter season.

Easter Traditions are celebrated in many religions. Orthodox Christians in the Middle East and in Greece painted eggs bright red to symbolize the blood of Christ. Hollow eggs (created by piercing the shell with a needle and blowing out the contents) were decorated with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other religious figures in Armenia. Germans gave green eggs as gifts on Holy Thursday, and hung hollow eggs on trees. Austrians placed tiny plants around the egg and then boiled them. When the plants were removed, white patterns were created.

The entire Lenten period is filled with significant holidays, serving as benchmarks along the way to the most important celebration within Christianity: Easter. The buildup reaches a crescendo on the Friday before Easter Sunday, when Good Friday is celebrated.

Commemorating the suffering -- known in religious parlance as the passion -- of Christ when he died on the cross, Good Friday is a day of fasting, prayer and repentance. Also known as Holy Friday or Black Friday, Good Friday commemorates the sacrificial death of Christ, without which his resurrection -- the pinnacle event within Christianity -- could not have taken place. Many Catholic churches begin their worship services at 3 p.m. on Good Friday, which is the time that Jesus is believed to have died. While customs vary by church and by country, many Catholics read or sing parts of St. John's Gospel, participate in the Veneration of the Cross, and receive communion. Good Friday is also considered a fast day in the Catholic Church, in which parishioners are only allowed to consume one meatless meal and two small snacks. In Orthodox Churches, different traditions are observed. In Russia, for example, churches prominently display a silver coffin with a cross, surrounded by candles and flowers. Inside the coffin is a shroud painted with an image of Christ. Worshippers crawl on their knees toward the coffin and kiss the shroud. The holiday is also celebrated, to varying degrees, within Protestant Churches. Episcopal, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran Churches often mark the day with special worship services.