Gifts of red Easter eggs are unique to the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church, unlike the Roman Catholic Church, retained accounts about Mary Magdalene. According to the Orthodox Church, Mary Magdalene went to the Roman Emperor, to convince him of the fact that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. When he refused to believe her and said there was as much chance of a human being returning to life as there was for an egg that Mary Magdalene was holding to turn red. The egg then turned red in her hand. This is one of the reasons Orthodox Christians exchange red eggs at Easter.
In a story from the Carpathian Mountains in what was Carpathian Rus, a poor man was on his way to the market to sell a basket of eggs. He saw a large crowd making fun of a Man bearing the burden of a wooden cross on his back. The poor man ran to Him (Jesus), and when he returned to his basket of eggs they had turned bright colors with beautiful designs. The Orthodox Christian views on Easter and their traditions can be found at http://www.orthodox.net/pascha/paschaleg... .
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