Why do we eat chocolate eggs at Easter? Does the shape represent the rock over Jesus’ tomb?

Writer Lauren Windle investigates a conundrum that she’s wrestled with since childhood – why do we associate Easter with chocolate eggs?

I believed all sorts as a child. I thought I could find out if people liked butter by holding a small yellow flower under their chin and that if I swallowed chewing gum it would stay in my stomach for seven years. Someone also told me that chocolate eggs are the same shape as the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb, so we eat it on Easter because that’s when he got rid of (rolled rather than ate) the stone and left his grave. Turns out, this isn’t the case.

So why do we eat chocolate and gift each other eggs at Easter? My deceived six-year-old self needed to right a wrong so I investigated.