Easter Lamb

Easter dinners used to include a roast of lamb. This tradition has gone out of style, but a very special cake has taken its place. If you take a closer look at many elaborately decorated Easter tables, you’ll find a sugar-dusted lamb sitting on a nest of Easter grass hidden between all the colorful eggs. But why lamb? What’s it got to do with Easter?

The lamb was traditionally one of the animals that were sacrificed. It symbolizes defenselessness, purity, and innocence. In the temple cult of the Israelites, lambs were often presented as a sin offering. Just think of the proverbial scapegoat that once a year was loaded with all the wrongs people had committed and chased off into the wilderness in order to absolve the community of its sins.

Early Christians transferred this meaning of the lamb to Jesus. In the Gospel according to John, John the Baptist, seeing Jesus for the first time, calls out: "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world." Jesus, many Christians believe, sacrificed himself on the cross to redeem mankind’s sins. The Easter lamb is not only found at the Easter table, but also widespread in Christian art, where is depicted with a halo and a victory banner and symbolizes Easterly resurrection.