 A pot of eggs lay steaming on the kitchen stove. Cups of cold dyed water wait quietly on a near-by counter. A 5 year old stands in the background singing, "Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hip pity Hop pity, Easter is on is on its way!" It's early April and for millions of US households, celebrating the Easter holiday may begin with boiling eggs, dying them and allowing your kindergartner to sing a freshly learned little song over and over again. For millions of Christians around the world many Easter themes are held in common. Many countries feature beautifully dyed and decorated eggs, have an Easter egg hunt for the kids, an Easter parade to watch, and fresh baked breads to make with other assorted delicacies offered only at Easter tide. Like Santa Claus at Christmas, some countries have a child's treat; special visits from the Easter Bunny. This magical rabbit mysteriously leaves colorful baskets full of chocolate treats and assorted candies or small gifts.
Fur-bearing mammals aren't egg layers, (with some rare exceptions like Australia's duck billed platypus), so why would an egg laying rabbit become part of the Easter scene? Why colored eggs? Why, why, why? asks your 4 year old. The answer begins with a journey to ancient Rome. Romans believed all life comes from an egg. Christians valued the egg symbolically as the seed of life, the resurrection of Jesus Christ emerging from his tomb at Easter. If one takes the egg as the seed of life and moves it to the Saxons of northern Europe and the Mediterranean cultures, it becomes combined with a spring fertility symbol, the hare or it's relative, the rabbit.
Many cultures felt their god and goddesses died in the winter and were resurrected in the first green shoots of spring. The Saxons believed their Mother Goddess, "Eostre or Eastre" was re-born every spring in the fertility of the rabbit or the hare. This rabbit would lay special eggs in the grass for people to find. The egg, the seed of life, was colorfully dyed and decorated to rejoice in the return of spring on March 21, the Spring Vernal Equinox. Egypt, Rome, Greece and Persia were especially noted for their beautiful dyed and decorated eggs. In these countries and all over medieval Europe, many were given as gifts.
Immigrants were the first to bring their Easter traditions to the US. Among them were the Germans who brought the Easter Bunny tradition to America when they settled in Pennsylvania and discovered rabbits in abundance.
For more information, visit www.about.com/easter
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