I figure that most of readers know the Jewish and Christian celebrations for this holiday...the escape of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and the resurrection of Jesus Christ...but there are always little details that escape us. Did you know:
* Christians recognize Passover as a holy day? Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, and that last meal together was celebrating Passover (remember, Jesus was a Jew). According to John 13:34, Jesus said "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), which is where Maundy Thursday comes from. This last meal is also the basis for the sharing of the "Body and Blood" in communion.
* When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the Anglo-Saxon tribes of the north, they realized it would have been suicide to disavow the pagan celebrations. Instead, the missionaries spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but with Christian observance. Ostara overlaps with the Resurrection of Christ, and the missionaries altered the festival itself, to making it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over.
* The date of Easter is a fixed thing, it just isn't a fixed date. I've wondered why the holiday moves so drastically (Easter is early or late this year). It turns out that in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine. They announced the date of Easter is the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox (although even that isn't followed precisely...If the Equinox falls on March 20th, things get confused again). This allowed missionaries to officially cite connections to the pagan celestial celebrations. Anyhow, by this reckoning, celebration of Easter varies between April 4 and May 8 on the Gregorian calendar.
* The Easter Bunny is a tie-back of 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 Easter Bunny shows up in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were pastry and sugar made in Germany during the early 1800s. The Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the "Oschter Haws" was considered "childhood's greatest pleasure" next to a visit from Christ-Kindel on Christmas Eve.
* Another pre-Christian legacy is the colored eggs. From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. In the Dutch tradition, eggs were wrapped in gold leaf. Peasants, lacking such luxury, would colored their eggs by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
* Easter by its self was not widely celebrated in America until after the Civil War. By that time, the cultural bits about hares and eggs got strung together in the American melting pot: a white hare would leave brightly colored eggs and baskets of chocolates, candy chicks, jelly beans and other gifts for all good children on Easter morning.
And now you know... I hope you enjoy your goodies!
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