http://fullhomelydivinity.org/eggs.htm
Some say the egg was a pagan symbol, promoted by the Germans [who gave us the Christmas tree]. We have a few *egg trees* here in NE...but they are mostly made of plastic eggs [ how Mr.Kraft got started.]
**Christianity inherited this rich natural symbolic tradition. However, the great spring festival of Easter, the Christian Passover, added a new meaning to the symbolism of the egg, for just as the hard shell of the egg is broken open so that new life can emerge, so was the rock-hewn tomb of Jesus broken open when he rose from the dead on the third day. Ancient cultures saw the egg as a symbol of the rebirth of nature, but Christians came to see it as a symbol of the rebirth of mankind.
It is often the case when symbols carry over from an old context to a new one that the symbols retain aspects of their former appearance. Christians were not the first to color and decorate eggs, but when they adopted the egg as a symbol of the resurrection, they needed new traditions, new explanations for symbols which had acquired a new meaning. These explanations are rarely found in Scripture. More often than not, they are glosses on Scripture. They are almost always rich and reverent extensions of canonical accounts, adding a layer of personal detail so that the symbolism of the egg not only has theological content, but has the effect of putting the recipient of an egg into the middle of the sacred story. The basic stories have many variations. Various cultures have their particular versions.**