Just this past week one of my coworkers asked the students in my classroom if they knew why Easter was celebrated. As expected, most of the student in my class did not know much about it. Of course, these are mostly 9 and 10 year olds, but still, one would hope that some would know since most of them come from a Catholic background. Easter is one of the major religious holidays for Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Greek Orthodox and other similar religions. It is also one of the most controversial holidays for many people, especially in the work place.
In my case, the Chicago Board of Education has had many problems with this holiday because it coincides with our Spring Break. It used to be that we were given Good Friday off, but now things have changed because of the controversy that was raised of the issue of church and state. Since the Chicago Public Schools are run by the city and state, this becomes a problem. They came up with a compromise a few years ago in order to try and "solve" this "problem". Spring Break would now coincide so that Good Friday and Easter are during the week that we are off from work. So each year it changes. When Easter falls in March, our Spring Break is also in March. When it falls in April, then we are off in April as well. So much fuss over so little, one would think!
Getting back to my story. Finally, one of the boys raised his hand and said he knew what Ester was about. We all listened in anticipation of finally getting an answer! He then proceeded to say that "Easter is when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and Halloween was when he died."
My coworker and I looked at each other in amazement! Definitely not an answer we expected! It was funny in a way! I had to laugh to myself and so did my coworker! At least he had it half right! LOL! Needless to say, we had to leave it at that and shortly after, I came over to him and in a few words explained why he had only gotten it 50% right. I'm not sure if he was trying to be funny or if he REALLY thought that's how it was! It seemed like he was being honest.
Anyway, it made me start to think of how much this world is in dire need of a savior and how the many different traditions and customs have come to overshadow the true meaning of something so deep and real! It's like the dilemma of Christmas all over again! How sad!!
As we all know, one of those customs and traditions has been the Easter Bunny along with the colored Easter eggs during the time of Easter. * The tradition of the Easter Bunny and the eggs came from the German immigrants in the 18th century. The word Easter relates to and comes from an ancient pagan goddess of the spring named Eostre. The story goes, according to a popular piece of folklore, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became the modern Easter Bunny. Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of extreme antiquity; since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth (to large litters) in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.
* Rabbits and hares are both lagomorphs; they are prolific breeders. The females can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first (the two are born separately); this phenomenon is known as 'superfetation'. Lagomorphs mature sexually at an early age and can give birth to several litters a year (hence the sayings, "to breed like bunnies" or "multiply like rabbits"). It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore; however, the notion of a rabbit that lays eggs has an uncertain past. It may have simply arisen from a confusion of symbolism but, like much of the holiday of Easter itself, it could be a direct heritage from older traditions.
* The precise origin of the custom of coloring eggs is not known, although it too is ancient; Greeks to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red, the color of blood, in recognition of the renewal of life in springtime (and, later, the blood of the sacrificed Christ). [By the way, my coworker is Greek and she mentioned and shared this particular bit of information about this tradition with us.] Some also use the color green, in honor of the new foliage emerging after the long "dead" time of winter. Other colors, including the pastels popular in the United States and
elsewhere (possibly symbolizing the rainbow), seem to have come along later.
* German Protestants wanted to retain the Catholic custom of eating colored eggs for Easter, but did not want to introduce their children to the Catholic rite of fasting. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhas" , sometimes spelled out as "Oschter Haws". "Hase" means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare, not a rabbit. According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter. This legend is most likely rooted in the European folklore about Hares eggs which seems to have been a confusion between hares raising their young at ground level and the finding of Plovers nests nearby, abandoned by the adults to distract predators.
With all this mixing of folklore and traditions, it is no wonder that things are the way they are today. Rabbits and hares, hares and rabbits! Tearing out our 'hair' over all the confusion! :) The one event is therefore not exactly related to the other, as we have learned. The only connection between the true celebration of Easter and the customs and traditions handed down through generations is the time of the season in which each is celebrated. Because of the celebrations of the spring season, the holiday of Easter has been lost among all the rabbits, the eggs, and traditions based on folklore!
In Part 2 I will talk about the similarities and differences of this holiday between the various major religions today. I hope you will come back and stick around for the ride!
Chances are I will not be asking my students questions about the holidays for a while! This one was enough!! :)
3/14/2008
James
[* information provided by: Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia online]
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