EASTER DAY

Easter marks the end of Holy Week. Holy Week in turn serves as the last week in
LENT, a six-week period of spiritual preparation for the celebration of Jesus’
resurrection. According to the Bible, some of Jesus’ followers went to his tomb on
the first Easter Sunday only to find it empty. In one biblical account, Jesus appears
to Mary Magdalene as she wept outside his tomb and tells her of his resurrection.
In others, the risen Jesus later appears to his disciples. Whatever happened had a
profound effect on Jesus’ followers, who thereafter believed in the possibility of
salvation and new life through Jesus and his teachings.
It was common during the early days of Christianity to try to attract new
converts by blending specifically Christian observances with existing pagan
festivals. Just as the observation of Christmas was moved from January 6 to
December 25, where it would coincide with the pagan celebration of the WINTER
SOLSTICE, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was traditionally identified with March
25, perhaps in the hope that it would supplant the ancient pagan festival in honor of
the VERNAL EQUINOX.
Many of the symbols associated with Easter have their roots in the ancient rituals
celebrating the arrival of spring. The name “Easter” may have come from the
Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, whose feast was celebrated in the spring and who
was associated with spring and fertility.
SYMBOLS AND CUSTOMS
Easter Bonnet: Wearing a new hat to church on Easter Sunday was a common
practice in the United States during the years when hats themselves were in vogue.
Well-known American songwriter Irving Berlin celebrated the custom in his song
“Easter Parade,” written in 1933. Now that women are less inclined to wear hats,
the Easter bonnet is not the popular symbol it once was.
Wearing new clothes on Easter Sunday continues an ancient symbol of
baptism and rebirth into a new life in Christ. In past times baptismal candidates put
on new clothes right after the ceremony, as a sign of this new life. The early
Christians usually baptized new members into the faith at Easter time, and some
churches continue this practice today.
In some areas of the United States, the Easter bonnet has been transformed into a
decoration for the home. Baskets of flowers, flower wreaths, and straw hats
decorated with spring flowers can often be seen hanging on doors at this time of
year.

Easter Bunny: Rabbits were common in pre-Christian fertility lore, where they
symbolized the abundance of new life associated with spring. The ancient German
goddess Ostara, for whom the German spring festival Ostern was named, was
always accompanied by a hare, who may have been the precursor of the modern
Easter Bunny. In any case, the association of the rabbit with Easter is probably the
vestige of an ancient spring fertility rite.
Although rabbits and hares (their European cousins, with shorter ears and
longer hind legs) have never had any connection to Christian religious symbolism,
the Easter Bunny’s role in the celebration of Easter is an important one,
particularly for children. It is the Easter Bunny who lays the eggs that children hunt
for on Easter morning, and who fills their Easter baskets with candy. Bunnies made
out of pastry and sugar are popular in many European countries, while American
children look forward to receiving chocolate or marshmallow rabbits.
The Easter Bunny came to America by way of the eighteenth-century German
settlers, who referred to him as “Oschter Haws.” Pennsylvania Dutch children
prepared nests for this shy creature in a secluded corner or sheltered place in the
garden or barn. On Easter Eve, the rabbit would lay his colored eggs in these nests,
or in the caps and bonnets that children left out for him. The custom of leaving out
an empty Easter basket didn’t come along until later.
In Germany, the Easter Bunny lays red eggs on MAUNDY THURSDAY
(the Thursday before Easter) and eggs of other colors on Easter Eve. In Panama,
it’s the conejo or “painted” rabbit who lays the eggs. He has smaller ears than his
U.S. counterpart and is brown with white spots, similar to the markings of a fawn.
Some religious purists believe that the Easter Bunny has done to Easter what the
cult of Santa Claus has done to CHRISTMAS. Others prefer to regard the rabbit
emerging from his underground burrow as akin to Christ rising from His tomb on
Easter morning. But no one has yet come up with a good explanation for why a
rabbit would lay eggs.
Easter Eggs: As a symbol of fertility and immortality, the egg is an integral part of
the mythology of all races, beginning with the ancient Egyptians and Hindus.
Among Christians, the egg is associated with the rock tomb from which Christ
emerged to begin his new life. Because the celebration of Easter is preceded by the
forty days of LENT, during which eggs and other dairy products are forbidden
among Orthodox Christians, it is traditional to begin the Easter meal in Russia and
eastern Europe by cutting up an egg that has been blessed and distributing the
pieces to each family member and guest.
The custom of dyeing Easter eggs, usually with vegetable colors, is practiced
throughout the United States and in northern and eastern Europe. It has become an
art form in Poland and the Ukraine, where pysanki (from pysac, meaning to write
or design) are decorated with geometrical or abstract patterns etched in wax (so as
not to absorb the color) and applied with a needle or a small metal tube. Russians
often exchange eggs that have been colored red, in honor of Jesus’ blood, on Easter
Day. The elaborate jeweled Easter eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé in St.
Petersburg during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were prized by
the Russian royal family and other European aristocrats.
Games involving eggs are often played on Easter. In England, “Egg Saturday”
marks the beginning of Shrovetide, or the last four days before LENT. Children
used to go from door to door asking for eggs or meat and hurling broken crockery
at the doors of those who refused-a custom known as Lent-crocking. Egg
shackling, another English custom, involves placing eggs in a sieve and shaking
them until all but one are cracked. The owner of the uncracked egg gets a prize.
Pace-egging (a corruption of Pasch) refers to the custom of going from house to
house asking for gifts of Easter eggs.
Egg-cracking, egg-rolling, egg races, and Easter egg hunts are also popular
games at Easter time. In Greece, an egg is suspended on a string from the ceiling
while the guests who sit around the table start it swinging by hitting it with their
heads, then try to catch it in their mouths. Egg-tapping, where children strike their
eggs against one another to see whose survives without damage, is popular in
many parts of the world. Egg-rolling is believed to symbolize the rolling away of
the stone from Jesus’ tomb. Perhaps the most famous egg-rolling event takes place
EASTER MONDAY in Washington DC, on the White House lawn.
Where do Easter eggs come from? According to German folklore, the Easter
Bunny lays the eggs and hides them in the garden, although other creatures have
also been given credit for the laying of Easter eggs. In France, children are told that
the Easter eggs are dropped by the church bells on their way back from Rome.
FURTHER READING
Bellenir, Karen. Religious Holidays and Calendars. 3rd ed. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2004.
Chambers, Robert. The Book of Days. 2 vols. 1862-64. Reprint. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1990.
Cirlot, J.E. A Dictionary of Symbols. New York: Philosophical Library, 1962.
Crim, Keith R. The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.
Dobler, Lavinia G. Customs and Holidays Around the World. New York: Fleet Pub. Corp., 1962.
Gulevich, Tanya. Encyclopedia of Easter, Carnival, and Lent. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2002.
Hazeltine, Alice Isabel, and Elva Sophronia Smith. The Easter Book of Legends and Stories. 1947.
Reprint. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1992.
Henderson, Helene, ed. Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary. 3rd ed. Detroit:
Omnigraphics, 2005.