Easter lamb

[purpleheartsandroses]

Why is lamb the go to meat for Easter?

Let's celebrate the new life of spring....by eating it???

I love lamb, it's my favourite meat. But wouldn't mutton be more appropriate? Or chicken so we can celebrate the new life hatching from the eggs?

AIBU to think we should be eating the "old" meat, so we can celebrate the arrival of new life?

Long weekend 😂. Sorry that made me laugh.

The lamb you are eating is not the lamb that’s literally just been born - it’s last years.

😂

This response is the perfect argument for reinstating the laughter emoji on MN!

I agree with you - how watching baby lambs playing in the fields makes people think ‘yummy I could eat that, I don’t know’. But that is more of a judgement of people eating them anyway and it’s correct what some posters have said, that the lamb on your plate is not one of the babies you’ve just seen in the field. They will be older.

So he was called that because people used to sacrifice lambs? I have heard the phrase but never realised where it came from.

So more the association of lamb and new life than the meat actually being new born.

Not as bad as eating veal for Easter then!

Many lambs were sacrificed in the Bible. Bible Study: How Many Times Is Lamb Mentioned In The Bible (What Does The Bible Say About Lamb Of God)? | Christian Pure

Does it make sense? I thought the opposite! Surely if Jesus is the lamb of God that is the last thing Christians should be eating to mark his resurrection? I don't like lamb so don't eat it at any time of year.

What better way to celebrate new life than to eat it?! especially when lambs have conveniently made themselves so delicious.

I do. I’m literally eating lamb leftovers right now now. Delicious!

It's to symbolise the sacrifice of the lamb of God.

Same here. It smells of sheep. @GlasgowGal2014 .

@UniquePinkSwan , so delicious that you post while eating it.

Eating a duckling today is ok but lamb not?

We took the children to a farm - lambs frolicking and huts with eggs - then through to the “gift shop” where a big chest freezer greeted us full of frozen lamb joints. Brutal!

How is it brutal? You obviously knew what the farm was for before you went!

Yes we went for the butchery children’s fun day 🤣

It arises from the Passover tradition, when God told the Jews to eat a lamb and mark their house with the blood. Easter and Passover are both based around the same traditions. Easter in Christianity is not about celebrating new life but the resurrection.

The lambs wouldn't have been there if they weren't being reared for slaughter.

Lamb of God?

It celebrates new life because we can eat the new life and therefore live.

Must have been bloody hard going through winter without modern food preservation techniques!

Have a look at history and religious practices. Easter traditions evolved from the Jewish festival of Passover. Israelites smeared lambs blood on the door steps of houses that were ‘passed over’ by the angel of death before their exodus. Early Jewish converts to Christianity brought the tradition of a sacrificial lamb. A lamb is considered a symbol of innocence and purity, characteristics of Christ. Jesus is referred to as the ‘Lamb of God’. Eating lamb is a symbol of his ultimate sacrifice. Seasonal: lamb is one of the first fresh meats. End of Lent is usually a feast. There’s plenty of other cultures that use lambs (not just the meat) as symbols for Easter.

Oh I love roast lamb but it's really expense here 🇨🇦 and not a very popular choice. Turkey and ham are more common for Easter dinner

Took two pages of scrolling for someone to get the right answer. Well done JoWawa

Eggs are also symbolic of Easter: as the rock that sealed the tomb; as a symbol of (re)birth; again as a way to feast at the end of Lent. Painting and gifting eggs (often red as the colour of Christ’s blood) was a continuation of the tradition of giving eggs in Persians, Egyptians and Rome and other cultures to celebrate the return of Spring.

I hate lamb, hate the smell of it cooking.

It’s not though, British lambs are only just being born, the lamb in the shops now is from New Zealand that were born in their spring.