EASTER

Easter's coming up, so I've dug up a few facts about the origins of this
important religious holiday, the history of the Easter Bunny, Easter eggs,
and exactly what chocolate has to do with the resurrection (not much!).
Scroll a little further down and you'll also find a few chocolatey recipes
to make the holiday a little more special.

Around the 4th and 5th century AD, Christianity had gained a lot of momentum
throughout western Europe, but a lot of peasants still clung to pagan
rituals rather than converting.  The Christians were none too thrilled about
this, but they couldn't make the pagans stop celebrating their various
harvest rituals and feasts.  Cannily, the Christians decided, well, if we
can't STOP them celebrating these events, let's let them celebrate, but make
them OUR events.
 

EASTER EGGS

Eostre (also known in some regions as Ostara) was the Saxon pagan Goddess of
the Dawn, Fertility and New Beginings, and the Eostre festival, which
occurred at the start of Spring, involved fertility and rebirth rituals
involving eggs, and generally celebrating the renewal of the ground after
the long cold winter.

The early Christian church adopted the name Eostre, or Easter in modern
English, for their festival to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, and before they knew it the pagans were celebrating a Christian
festival!  It certainly helped that the underlying themes or rebirth and
resurrection were so similar!

The eggs that symbolised the rebirth of the ground now symbolised the
rebirth of Christ, and in some places egg-rolling became a way to imitate
the rolling away of the stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre (The cave in
which Jesus' body was lain after crucifixion).

Originally hen, duck and goose eggs were painted brightly, but the Easter
egg as we now know it began to evolve around the 18th century. Hollow
cardboard eggs were filled with Easter gifts and decorated, and this led to
the creation of Russia's famous Faberge  Eggs.  These were perfectly formed
and encrusted with precious jewels and presented to the Russian Czars, and
are now worth millions of dollars each.

In the early 19th century solid eggs of chocolate began to appear in Germany
and France, and these quickly spread throughout the rest of Europe.  By the
end of the 19th century chocolate was far more malleable and hollow
chocolate eggs became more widespread.  By the mid 20th century the
chocolate Easter egg was the normal gift for Easter celebration throughout
the western world.

WHATS WITH THAT WASCALLY WABBIT?

From one version of the story, the Easter Bunny was originally a large and
handsome bird belonging to Eostre, the Goddess of the Dawn.  For some reason
Eostre changed him into a hare, but he still continued to build a nest at
Easter and fill it with brightly painted eggs to signify the seasonal
rebirth.  This seems to have evolved into today's Easter Bunny, with his
wicker basket (resembling a nest) full of eggs.

Another version explains that the hare, being the most fertile of nature's
animals, were symbols of Springtime and the fertility rituals of the Pagan
Gods.  He is first mentioned in German writings from the 16th century, but
was probably in use in folklore much earlier.  The Germans also made the
first edible bunnys from pastry and sugar in the early 1800s.  German
children used to make a nest on the eve of Easter from their hats or
bonnets, which the Easter Hare would fill with gifts and sweets while they
slept, in much the same way as Santa or Saint Nick fills their stockings at
Christmas time (another old Pagan festival the Christian's gave a marketing
make-over to).
 

Be excellent to each other

Shane Pinnegar

March 2005