Why Do We Eat Ham and Eggs at Easter (and Matzoh at Passover)?
Ever wonder why we eat ham and hot cross buns at Easter, and matzoh at Passover? We explain where the traditions came from.
Easter & Passover Foods at a Glance
- Why ham on the Easter table: meat butchered in fall and cured through winter was ready to eat by spring. Practical, not theological.
- Why eggs at Easter: two reasons. Rebirth symbolism (the resurrection, the start of spring) and the practical fact that hens stopped laying through Lent in the medieval era, so Easter Sunday was an egg feast.
- Why hot cross buns: the spiced sweet bun has pagan spring-equinox roots in Europe; the Christian cross was added later.
- Why matzoh at Passover: three layered pieces remind the family of the unleavened bread Israelites carried out of Egypt with no time for the dough to rise.
- The five Passover seder symbols: matzoh, maror (horseradish), charoset, zeroah (lamb shank), karpas (greens).
‘Tis the season for Easter ham and eggs, Easter and Passover. While there are many celebrations, customs, and religious observations that occur this week, there are also many traditional foods that are served and consumed. Ever wonder why we eat certain Passover and Easter foods during these holidays?
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the foods on the seder plate predate written history of the festival and pull double duty: each item is both a symbol on the plate and a culinary marker of the springtime story being retold. The Easter table is a different animal. Christianity grafted spring-equinox feasts and the agricultural calendar onto its own central story of resurrection, so most of what shows up on an Easter Sunday plate is older than the holiday itself.
Traditional Foods Eaten at Passover
Some of the traditional foods served during Passover include:
Matzoh. Three unleavened pieces of matzohs are placed in folded napkins as a reminder of how quickly the Israelites had to flee Egypt, leaving no time for the dough to rise.
Horseradish is served to symbolize the bitterness of slavery.
A mixture of apples, nuts, wine, and cinnamon, referred to as charoses (or charoset), is another food eaten during Passover and is supposed to remind people of the mortar used by the Jewish slaves when they constructed buildings.
Roasted lamb shank bone, referred to as zeroah, represents the paschal offering.
A bowl of vegetables, usually celery, called karpas, is another traditional food that represents hope and redemption.
The Seder Plate at a Glance
| Item | Hebrew name | What it stands for |
|---|---|---|
| Unleavened flatbread | Matzoh | The Israelites’ hurried flight; no time for bread to rise |
| Bitter herb (horseradish) | Maror | The bitterness of slavery |
| Apple-nut-wine-cinnamon paste | Charoset | The mortar used building Pharaoh’s storehouses |
| Roasted lamb shank bone | Zeroah | The paschal sacrifice |
| Celery or parsley, dipped in salt water | Karpas | New growth, hope; salt water = tears of slavery |
| Roasted egg | Beitzah | The festival offering and the cycle of life |
Easter Food Traditions
Christians celebrate Easter with some traditional foods but seem to have more regional and family favorites rather than religiously dictated foods.
Ham is often served at the Easter table, which may seem odd since Jesus was Jewish and wouldn’t have eaten pork. It seems that this holiday food comes more from the timing of Easter than a religious meaning. Years ago, hams served during the Easter holiday were from meat that was originally slaughtered in the fall and cured throughout the winter months. Since the holiday of Easter falls in spring, this celebration was cause to use the last of the winter-cured meats.
Eggs are a big part of the Easter tradition. Eggs are traditionally connected with rebirth, rejuvenation, and immortality. Since Easter is celebrated as the resurrection of Jesus and is observed in the spring (a time when flowers, grass, and other vegetation is born again), there’s an obvious connection with this food that reminds people of rebirth. Another reason may be that eggs during early Christian days were forbidden during Lent. So after the 40 days of not eating them, Easter was a welcomed day to eat eggs once again.
Hot Cross Buns. Bread is a big part of many religious traditions and ceremonies, but the origin of hot cross buns predates Christianity in Europe. Supposedly the buns were made to celebrate the spring equinox in pagan societies, and have since been served during the Easter season.
Try these Easter Dinner Favorites.
Easter Foods Around the World
| Country / tradition | Traditional Easter food | Note |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Glazed ham, deviled eggs, hot cross buns, lamb cake | Combination of European traditions filtered through 20th-century American kitchens |
| Italy | Roast lamb, colomba pasquale dove-shaped bread, torta pasqualina (savory cheese pie) | Lamb references the paschal lamb directly |
| Greece (Pascha) | Magiritsa offal soup, lamb roasted on a spit, red-dyed eggs, tsoureki sweet bread | Red eggs symbolize the blood of Christ |
| U.K. | Roast lamb, hot cross buns, simnel cake (with 11 marzipan balls for the apostles minus Judas) | Hot cross buns traditionally eaten Good Friday morning |
| Poland | Cured ham and white kielbasa, blessed in church Holy Saturday in the święconka basket | The whole basket is brought back home to break the Lenten fast |
| Mexico (Easter / Lent) | Capirotada (savory-sweet bread pudding) and seafood instead of meat through Lent | Capirotada’s layers are symbolic of the Passion |
Will the Easter Dinner Be Indoors or Out?
Easter falls anywhere from late March to late April. See our long-range outlook to know whether to plan for a porch lunch or the dining room.
See Your Extended ForecastFrequently Asked Questions About Easter and Passover Foods
Why do we eat ham at Easter when Jesus was Jewish?
It is a calendar quirk, not a theological one. Hogs were butchered in late fall, the meat cured over the winter, and the last of the cured shoulders or hams were eaten in early spring just as Easter arrived. It became custom, and the custom outlived the practical reason.
Why are eggs the symbol of Easter?
Two reasons. Symbolically, the egg has stood for rebirth and renewal across most cultures for thousands of years, a perfect fit for a spring resurrection holiday. Practically, eggs were forbidden food during the 40 days of Lent in early Christian observance, while hens kept laying, so Easter Sunday became a celebration of the egg-rich breakfast that broke the fast.
What’s on a seder plate?
Six symbolic items: matzoh (unleavened bread), maror (bitter herb, usually horseradish), charoset (apple-nut-wine paste), zeroah (roasted lamb shank), karpas (parsley or celery, dipped in salt water), and beitzah (roasted egg). Some Sephardic and modern plates add a seventh item.
What is matzoh, exactly?
Unleavened flatbread made of just flour and water, baked in under 18 minutes (the time it would take for natural yeast to begin a rise). It is the central food of Passover, recalling the flight from Egypt when there was no time to let bread proof.
Where do hot cross buns come from?
Spring-equinox baking traditions in pre-Christian Europe. The cross was originally a solar symbol added to spice-rich sweet buns for spring fertility rites. The Christian observance kept the cross and grafted on its own meaning. English tradition assigns hot cross buns to Good Friday morning.
Is lamb the meat for Easter or Passover?
Both, for the same root reason. The paschal lamb is the central Passover sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible, and early Christian tradition translated that imagery directly to Jesus as the “Lamb of God.” Italian, Greek, and British Easter tables still feature roast lamb as the main course.
Why are eggs dyed red at Greek Pascha?
Tradition holds that the red of the dyed shells symbolizes the blood of Christ, and the cracking of the eggs in a friendly game at Pascha symbolizes the breaking of the tomb on Easter morning.
What other traditional foods do you eat or serve on either Easter or Passover? Tell us in the comments below. For more holiday food reading, see Irish soda bread for St Patrick’s Day, what the Pilgrims really ate at Thanksgiving, and hoppin’ john for New Year’s luck.
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Deborah Tukua
Deborah Tukua is a natural living, healthy lifestyle writer and author of 7 non-fiction books, including Pearls of Garden Wisdom: Time-Saving Tips and Techniques from a Country Home, Pearls of Country Wisdom: Hints from a Small Town on Keeping Garden and Home, and Naturally Sweet Blender Treats. Tukua has been a writer for the Farmers' Almanac since 2004.
- Deborah Tukua
- Deborah Tukua
- Deborah Tukua
- Deborah Tukua
The coloring of the eggs were originally done in red and According to this tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with “Christ has risen,” whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and stated, “Christ has no more risen than that egg is red.” After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red.
I fallow my parents customs for Easter, fish or tuna salad every Friday until Easter Sunday than to celebrate Easter Carne Asada with other side dishes ? and for dessert Capirotada ? which is like bread pudding.
Given that Jesus lived in the eastern Mediterranean, we do a six to eight course Mediterranean mezze which includes lamb, tzatziki, tabbouleh, hummus, baba ganousz, homemade pita bread, and a pie made from charoseth (which ends up being very similar to mincemeat pie, without the meat).
And deviled eggs. (We’re from the South. You don’t have holiday meals in the South without deviled eggs!)
Our family eats potato salad wings wagon wheel salad and other assorted foods deviled eggs pasta tuna salad olives cheesecakes so tasty
Our family ear
I didn’t mean ear
The Easter tradition of eggs was incorporated by the Dutch. Lady Freia (german goddess) saved a little birds life. The only way to do so was to change it into a rabbit, so that it wouldn’t be able to fly again. Every year the rabbit (former bird) would come lay the most beautiful eggs for the goddess. This is also where we get chocolate bunnies. Incorporated into america by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Spellings may not be perfect. The point was what most people already know, the catholic church stole bits and pieces of pagan holidays (dates, ideas, etc) and used them in catholic holidays to make the pagans more easily accepting of Catholicism. It was good PR on the Roman’s part.
Thank you, I had no idea, Michael!! Where did you come upon this knowledge? I have a huge interest in such things. Amazing, really!!
I think easter is all mixed up. JESUS only died and raised up once. Nobody knows exactly when. So pick one specific day for each year and leave it that way. Personally, I celebrate His birth,death ,and resurrection on Christmas and easter. Spending time teaching my children the truth of what the BIBLE says about JESUS. As for food on those holidays, its whatever we have at the time. Praise and worship from a clean heart and spotless soul are what we need to give to JESUS.
ALL THE TIME. Its good to have a time set aside for that reason, but I feel like we should all make more effort to remember HIM every day.
The Fact that JESUS Did provide us a way of escape from hell is way more than any of us deserve.but HE did it out of love.
Amen I agree
They kinda glossed over the fact that Easter was “created” and placed into existing spring equinox Pagan celebrations that had been going on since the Druids thousands of year before Christ. Eggs and rabbits are Pagan symbols of fertility much, much older than 2,000 years.
this comment applies not just to Easter, but to all of the Christian and probably other religions’ holidays. all of the Saints’ “days” mark divisions on the lunar/solar calendar.For example, Saint Valentine’s Day is halfway between the winter solstice and the Spring Equinox.
The Last Supper was Jesus and his fellow Jewish disciples celebrating Passover, so they pretty much know when it happened, and that is why we celebrate it when we do. And many of the Saints’ days are celebrated on the date of their death, when known. But you are still partially correct, that some dates are not known so they are associated with various times of the year. And yes, many of the foods and civil traditions come from local customs, which at first were typically rooted in Pagan traditions. I’m sure God doesn’t care what we eat, what we wear or how we decorate, as long as we celebrate His great love for us as show through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
No Professor, they know exactly when Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection are, due to the Last Supper being the Jewish celebration of Passover.
There’s are a few certain dishes we would make for Easter in my Italian family to be served for Easter or given as gifts to relatives. Pasteria di Grano– a pie made with –wheat, ricotta cheese and dried citrus with orange or lemon flavoring. Pizza Rustica— a pie made with ricotta and parmesan cheeses, eggs, prosciutto, ham, and salami. Braided Easter bread –a brioche with dyed decorated hard-boiled eggs. Struffoli—fried mini dough balls made into a mound and drizzled with honey and nonpareil candy. These are all served for Easter brunch after church services to symbolized end of Lental fast.
MariaRose, all those sound delicious! We have an Easter bread recipe that came from Patsy’s Bakery in NYC: Italian Easter Bread with Colored Eggs Recipe
Thank You for recipe !!