Exploring Easter ~
Easter is a time of springtime festivals. In Christian countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but the celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do with Christianity.
Scholars, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, believe the name Easter is thought to come from the Scandinavian "Ostra" and the Teutonic "Ostern" or "Eastre," both Goddesses of mythology signifying spring and fertility whose festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox.
So, why eggs?
Of all the symbols associated with Easter the egg, the symbol of fertility and new life, is the most identifiable. The customs and traditions of using eggs have been associated with Easter for centuries
Originally Easter eggs were painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring and were used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts. After they were colored and etched with various designs the eggs were exchanged by lovers and romantic admirers, much the same as valentines. In medieval time eggs were traditionally given at Easter to the servants. In Germany eggs were given to children along with other Easter gifts
And what about those bunnies?
The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season. The bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have it's origins in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s.
***Gives a new thread of credibility to "doing it like rabbits", huh?
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1 comment:
swan,
I think the media is biased towards sensationalism. A good chunk of Americans don't even know what a U.S. Attorney is, let alone the circumstances around their appointment.
Besides, at some point I think the media gets numb to political scandal. After Iraq, Katrina, rats at Walter Reed, and so on, the ability to manufacture outrage just gets depleted (and it's always manufactured when you're talking about big media like Time).
In any case, the prosecutor scandal obscures the real issue of our time: Who fathered Anna Nicole's baby? That's what "real" Americans want to know, of course...
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