Why is Mary Magdalene often depicted with a red egg? Therein lies a story.
According to tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary traveled to Rome, telling the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection along the way. Arriving in the eternal city, being a woman from an influential family, she presented herself to the emperor Tiberius caesar and proclaimed “Christ is risen.”
She told Tiberius the story of how his governor, Pontius Pilate, had put an innocent man to death, a man who was revealed to be the Christ when he rose from the dead. She held in her hand an egg to emphasize her point. “As surely as the chick breaks out of its sealed egg, Christ has burst from a sealed tomb. He is risen.”
The emperor shook his head and spoke as he would to a child, “my dear, no man can rise from the dead any more than the egg you hold can change its color.” Immediately the egg changed from pure white to the color of blood. Tiberius was so impressed he had pilate removed as governor of Jerusalem.
Did you ever wonder why we color eggs at easter?