WHAT IS EASTER? Easter is the most important religious festival of the year for Christians. According to the Bible, Jesus died on the cross (or was ‘crucified’) on Good Friday (which is ‘Good’ in the sense of it being ‘Holy’), and was resurrected and came back to life on Easter Sunday.
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WHEN IS EASTER? The precise date of Easter varies each year between March and April. According to the Bible, the Crucifixion took place at Passover, so early Christians determined the date of Easter by referring to the Jewish calendar, which is based on the cycles of the moon. These days, Easter Sunday is always marked as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox in the Northern hemisphere (when the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal length).
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HOW DO CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE EASTER? For Christians, Easter is a time for reflection upon Jesus’ life and the sacrifices he made and his resurrection, and they will usually spent time with family and friends and at church in prayer and thought. This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, church services are restricted, so celebrations may look very different for many Christians.
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WHY IS IT CALLED EASTER? Although Easter is a very important Christian festival, it has roots in pre-Christian traditions connected to the changing of the seasons. Even the naming of the celebration as “Easter” seems to go back to the name of a pre-Christian goddess in Europe, ‘Eostre’, who was celebrated at the beginning of Spring. A famous British monk called the Venerable Bede made a reference to this in his 8th-century writings, where he said that during ‘Ēosturmōnaþ’ (the equivalent of April), pre-Christian Anglo Saxons used to hold feasts in Eostre’s honour, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
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SO WHY ALL THE EASTER EGGS? Although Easter is a Christian festival, there is nothing very Christian about the chocolate eggs, the Easter bunny or any of the other paraphernalia surrounding modern Easter celebrations in popular culture. However, some people link the custom of giving and receiving eggs with Christian traditions...
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Eggs have long been a symbol of fertility and rebirth, which some people link to the resurrection, while others say that the shape of an egg symbolizes the tomb of Jesus from which he was resurrected. It’s also believed that eggs used to be a forbidden food in the Holy Week leading up to Easter, so any eggs laid during this time were kept aside and decorated to give as Holy Week gifts to children. Ancient Christians are also said to have stained eggs red to symbolize the blood of Jesus shed at his crucifixion.
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WHY CHOCOLATE EGGS? Over the years the giving and receiving of eggs around Easter has evolved significantly. From the exchange of simple hen’s eggs in ancient times, the custom shifted to satin-wrapped, treat-filled decorative eggs in Victorian England, to the elaborate, jeweled eggs of Fabergé in 19th century Russia. The first hollow chocolate egg is thought to date back to the late 1800s, when John Cadbury made use of the new technology of separating the cocoa butter from the cocoa beans, enabling chocolate to be moulded into shapes for the first time. People loved these chocolate eggs, and the custom has since exploded into the obsession with sugary Easter eggs and other chocolate treats that we know in popular culture today.
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WHERE DID THE EASTER BUNNY COME FROM? The origins of the Easter hare or bunny can also be traced back to pre-Christian celebrations of the coming of Spring, of which rabbits have always been a potent signifier. The concept of an Easter Hare that lays eggs however seems to date back to 17th-century Germany, and it seems that the rabbit and the egg as two symbols of Spring and fertility intertwined, to become the folkloric, egg-laying bunny that visits children in popular culture today.
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It was also thought at one point that hares were capable of self-impregnation (which they are not, although they are capable of becoming pregnant with a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with their first). The idea that a hare could reproduce without loss of virginity led to an association with purity and the Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in old religious paintings.
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WHAT ABOUT HOT CROSS BUNS? Another delicious food often associated with Easter is the hot cross bun, a spiced sweet bun usually made with dried fruit, marked with a cross on the top. These buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday in many parts of the world, and signify the end of Lent. The cross marked on top of these baked treats is said to represent the crucifixion of Jesus, while some say the spices inside signify the spices used to embalm him at his burial, and may also include orange peel to reflect the bitterness of his time on the cross.
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EASTER IN MODERN TIMES: While Easter remains one of the most important religious festivals for Christians, its timing around the coming of Spring and its associations with eggs and bunnies has a long, ancient history that still contains elements of mystery. The secular side of Easter has been hugely commercialized, and today the shops are filled with extravagant, foil-wrapped chocolate eggs, satin-ribboned bunnies and decadent buns that have very little to do with the religious festival. The association with chocolate of course also makes Easter a favourite holiday for children whose families celebrate. Whatever your beliefs and however you celebrate, we wish you a very Happy Easter.
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