The word "Easter" comes from an ancient pagan goddess worshipped by Anglo Saxons named Eostre. According to legend, 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 our Easter Bunny. Eggs were a symbol of fertility in part because they used to be so scarce during the winter. There are records of people giving each other decorated eggs at Easter as far back as the 11th century.
I thought of Miles Davis and the egg gatherer in Day to Day Life of a Very Lazy Gardener....
Happy Easter!
Nice post! I had not heard that explanation of the Easter Bunny before. When I grew up in England, I didn't really know anything about the Easter Bunny, my chocolate easter eggs were always found under the hens in the henhouse.... while my father looked on, laughing!
ReplyDeleteex-shammickite:
ReplyDeleteI always got jelly beans for easter. Not a chocolate egg (or hen under which to hide them) in sight! Fine with me...I loved jelly beans and was not much for chocolate way back then....
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