> Origins of Easter > > "Easter" comes from Eostre (also Eastre, and Ostara), an Anglo-Saxon Goddess of > Spring (closely related to the Babylonian Goddess of Spring Ishtar) whose celebration > Eostremonat was in April, during the same time period as the Jewish Passover, or > Pasch. > > Eostre's sacred animal, or "familiar" was a rabbit (aka bunny). Feeling guilty about > arriving late one spring, the Goddess saved the life of a poor bird whose wings had > been frozen by the snow. She made him her pet or, as some versions have it, her > lover. Filled with compassion for him since he could no longer fly (in some versions, > it was because she wished to amuse a group of young children), Eostre turned him into > a snow hare and gave him the gift of being able to run with incredible speed so he > could evade his hunters. > > In remembrance of his earlier form as a bird, she also gave him the ability to lay > eggs (in all the colors of the rainbow, no less), but only on one day out of each > year. > > Eventually the hare managed to anger the goddess Eostre, and she cast him into the > skies where he would remain as the constellation Lepus (The Hare) forever positioned > under the feet of the constellation Orion (the Hunter). He was allowed to return to > Earth once each year, but only to give away his eggs to the children attending the > Eostre festivals that were held each spring. The tradition of the Easter Bunny and > his eggs had begun. > > Easter grass also stems from this lore, being that children would build a nest of > grass for Eostre's bunny to lay his eggs in for them to collect. Sometimes the bunny > would lay his eggs in hidden places, and children had to hunt for them. > > Eggs were viewed as symbols of new life and fertility through the ages. It is > believed that for this reason many ancient cultures, including the Ancient Egyptians, > Persians, and Romans, used eggs during their spring festivals. The coloring of eggs > was an established art, being dyed, painted, or otherwise decorated. > > The Catholic's First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of to celebrate the > rising of their savior Jesus as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal > Full Moon) following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox, so that it would > coincide with the Jewish Passover (Pasch) and the pagan Eostremonat. For those people > to continue celebrating their favorite holidays would help facilitate their > conversion to Christianity. > > The Eostre traditions were celebrations of renewed life over death during the spring, > which the Christians pointed out is not unlike the Christian celebration of Jesus' > resurection. > > Modern use of the Easter basket can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when Catholics > would give up eating eggs for lent. To keep eggs that were laid during this time > period, they were boiled and stored. Celebrating the end of Lent, Catholics around > Europe would hold Mass and feast on large meals, usually brought to the church in > baskets to be blessed by the Priest, almost always including these eggs which were by > the end of Lent, plentiful. Eventually this morphed into the modern smorgasbord of > candy and treats nestled in the grass for the Eostre Bunny and carried in a basket.
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