Historical Easter Eggs

Every spring, Galveston comes alive with Easter traditions set against the blooming backdrop of its iconic oleanders. In this episode, we explore the island’s earliest Easter celebrations through historic newspapers, uncovering stories of church services, family egg hunts, and a surprising moment in Trinity Episcopal Church. Join us on a hunt for Galveston's historic Easter eggs—both the colorful kind and the hidden gems buried in the island’s past.

Galveston Unscripted

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Chapters

• 0:00 Easter Traditions in Blooming Galveston
• 0:46 Researching Historic Easter Celebrations
• 1:21 Origins of Easter Egg Hunts
• 1:59 Reverend Eaton's Final Easter Preparations
• 3:38 Discovering Galveston's 1887 Easter Traditions
• 7:53 Modern Easter Celebrations on the Island

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Church brunch and Easter egg hunts. Every spring, as Galveston bursts into bloom, the island comes alive with the vibrant colors of oleanders swaying in the coastal breeze, an unmistakable sign that Easter is near. These iconic flowers, blooming in soft pinks, whites and reds, mirror the energy of the season fresh, joyful and full of life. As families flock to the island and gather for Easter egg hunts under the spring sun and worship together in sacred spaces, galveston's springtime beauty serves as a backdrop to the island's deep-rooted Easter traditions. Join me on my research journey throughout this episode on a hunt for historic Easter eggs. While planning and researching this episode, I found myself spending hours looking through old Galveston newspapers on the web. I was curious as to what those early Easter festivals and church services were like on Galveston Island, and something I really love about old newspapers they paint a picture and give wonderful insight to what life was like at a certain period in time. I first began searching to find out when the first Easter egg hunt happened on Galveston Island, as Easter egg hunts or, as I found out, quote, picking eggs has been a tradition for centuries. The exact first Easter egg hunt is hard to pinpoint, but the tradition is believed to have started in 16th century Germany, likely tied to the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, who organized egg hunts for his congregation, where men would hide eggs for women and children to find, symbolizing the joy and surprise of the resurrection. The symbolism of dyed Easter eggs goes back even further. Eggs have long been a symbol of new life and rebirth, a natural fit for spring celebrations. In Christianity, the egg came to represent the resurrection of Jesus. As for dyeing them, early Christians in Mesopotamia were known to stain eggs red, representing the blood of Christ. Over time this evolved into the more festive and colorful egg decorating traditions we know today, blending Christian symbols with early pagan spring rituals. So bright eggs scattered across lawns, parks and even beaches. They're part of a playful but spiritual tradition tying together centuries of renewal and celebration. So back to my search for the first Easter egg hunt on Galveston Island. Mentions of Easter and Easter festivals really began to pick up in the 1860s and 1870s, and one notable quick story from 1871 comes from Trinity Episcopal Church. On Sunday morning, march 19, 1871, just three weeks before Easter, reverend Benjamin Eaton, the founder of Trinity Episcopal Church and reverend since 1842, made his rounds through the church before Sunday service. The Daily News reports he visited with the children of the church Quote. He went to each separate child and teacher, spoke with them, was busy with directions for the Easter festival and seemed to be unnaturally solicitous that all might understand their parts in the celebrations. End quote. Shortly after Benjamin Eaton would start the Sunday service. No one knows exactly why, but while giving his sermon, reverend Benjamin Eaton would die on the pulpit of Trinity Episcopal Church, with one of his last actions being that he would make sure the children knew their parts in the Easter festivities. Now, this is how I find a lot of the stories I tell on Galveston Unscripted. I truly stumble upon them while searching for something else.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Now back to finding the earliest documented Easter egg hunt in one of Galveston's early newspapers. While searching through hundreds of early editions of the Galveston Daily News and the Galveston Tribune, I wasn't very surprised to find announcements for Easter church services or even a few Easter festivals put on by churches. These festivals no doubt had some sort of Easter icon, plenty of mentions of flowers and dresses and offerings to the church, and even kids' activities. And considering the city of Galveston was established in 1839, and undoubtedly was full of Christians that celebrated Easter, I was surprised to find my first hit on the search term Easter egg in the March 31st edition of the Galveston Daily News in 1877. But it wasn't an announcement for an Easter egg hunt. It was simply an ad for the T Rotto Wholesale and Retail Confectioner, which was located at 54 and 56 Market, between Tremont and 24th Street. The ad states Now open Something entirely new Like never before in the city. Come and see no trouble to show them Easter eggs of beautiful design. The ad goes on to list other sweets sold in the store.

Speaker 1: 4:42

There is no doubt Easter egg hunts were happening on Galveston Island prior to 1877, considering Christians of most denominations were a large portion of Galveston Island's population. And besides enjoying the colorful spring oleanders, eating, being merry and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, what else could an early Galvestonian be doing at these Easter festivals? Well, moving through ten more years of newspapers and using search terms like Easter, easter eggs, quote picking eggs, egg hunt, easter hunt and children's Easter festival, finally, I discover in the April 11, 1887 edition of the Galveston Daily News an article titled quote Easter Day Celebration how it was observed in Galveston elaborate church services, a profusion of floral offerings, as the language and editorialized description is well so, 1887. Quote somewhat too windy for an auspicious Easter celebration. But despite the gust of wind and disagreeable dust, those who were interested in the observances of the day were not idle.

Speaker 1: 5:59

In early morning children were up waiting with fond impatience to catch a glimpse of many beautiful colored eggs, without which Easter would not seem like Easter at all, at least to the juvenile element. The custom usually observed in Galveston in every household on Easter consists in the older people dying so many eggs and then secreting them in various parts of the yard in the form of nests, after which the children are given the scent and there is much hustling and bustling and tumbling to find the eggs. Where a nest is found is great hullabaloo by the finder and the other crowd. This employment is kept up until all the other nests have been unearthed and then the more pleasant task of eating the eggs begins being hard-boiled. They are very easy to handle and disappear with marvelous rapidity. End quote.

Speaker 1: 6:49

After a few more hours of searching I wasn't able to find the first documented Easter egg hunt in the newspapers, although I am sure there were other historical documents with much earlier dated Easter egg hunts. But either way, I found my own historical Easter eggs from Reverend Benjamin Eaton at Trinity Episcopal Church to a confectioner downtown, to an article in an 1887 edition of the Galveston Daily News talking of at-home Easter traditions. I have an absolute blast researching a topic like this. These old newspapers really do tell a story. Now, given that I was only looking through old published newspapers and not using other various historical documents, it's clear that Easter egg hunts were mainly an activity that took place at home, or even small Easter festivals.

Speaker 1: 7:35

And to wrap this up and bring it all back to today, on Galveston Island, you can take your children to one of the dozens of Easter egg hunts that happens here every year, or even attend Easter brunch at the Galvez, which has really become an Easter tradition to many modern-day Galvestonians. But before brunch, you can't forget to attend one of the many Easter services at one of Galveston's historic churches, some of which have been holding Easter services coming up on two centuries, as we've both learned throughout this episode. All of these community, family and religious traditions provide Galvestonians with the opportunity to connect with each other and celebrate the Easter season. There is something for everyone. So, whether you're a local or just visiting the island, you're invited to join in on the Easter fun.