History of Easter with some extras: http://www.theholidayspot.com/easter/history/easter_history.htm History of the Easter Bunny http://www.chiff.com/a/easter-bunny.htm
The bunny thrives.It is a sign that spring is here. Spring is a sign of rebirth and growth from winter . Its a symbol of the resurrection of jesus.
[The following sounds terrible, and I don't really mean it to sound nearly as terrible as it does. My apologies in advance, and please remember that I'm picking on the logic of your statement - not on you personally, nor your personal beliefs.] I don't like to harsh anyone's mellow, especially a religious mellow, but... The resurrection of Jesus, the Savior and Messiah of the Christian faith, is symbolized by a rabbit who hides candy & brightly decorated eggs??? (Did I miss a step or three in there?) Or did you mean that Spring itself symbolizes the Resurrection? - That must have been really hard on humanity and the whole darned ecosystem up to 33 AD. Or did God presciently provide Spring all along; post-dating it to 33 AD when the inspiration for its symbolism came into existence? I'd say that the Resurrection can be seen as symbolic of Spring (among the many other important things it symbolizes). The legendary fecundity of rabbits, and the obvious fertility of eggs, also symbolize spring; and these three things, along with a bunch of other symbolic traditions, get all rolled up together* as things tend to do when human beings want to throw a nice party. (*Here I mean not the profound religious significance of the Resurrection, so much as the flower-bedecked chocolate crosses found tucked in next to the marshmallow peeps and Cadbury eggs.) Admittedly, this sort of thing makes me no fun at all in theology class, and may be why I seldom get invited to the Easter dinners - Evelyn, who usually celebrates Easter by buying a bag of jelly beans (and a Cadbury egg
i've always found it wonderfully ironic that all the popular symbols of easter are derived from what christians call 'pagan' observances... same goes for the date chosen to celebrate christ's birth having also come from a ready-made pagan holiday, mithra's birthday... [also called, 'birthday of the invincible sun']...
ferret asked whats up with the bunny and i wrote what the bunny symbolises. The main picture I think is ridiculous though...(no offense to anybody at all-just a opinion).a bunny hiding eggs...in no way should be apart of a religious holiday, but it is what it is....a way for people to make money.....I am not religious, but for those that are...hopefully it helps mark the day....in some wierd way? Anyways. I do enjoy the holiday because it's fun. I definetly don't knock fun.
In the words of Eddy Izzard: Children eat chocolate eggs... because the colour of the chocolate and the colour in the wood of the cross is... I don't know!
The Easter Bunny comes from Pagan fertility cults. Like others mentioned, the rabbit is very fertile and multiplies quickly and represents rebirth and spring. In the Roman period when the government was trying to convert people to Christianity, Pagan traditions synthesized with Christian traditions. I wrote a research paper on the topic for my Western Civilizations I class last semester.
The symbol of Eostre was a rabbit. Eostre was a pagan goddess (of spring, I believe); as Christianity spread, its values and the old local valued mixed, so the spring celebration of Eostre mixed with the Christian holiday to become Easter, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that's my two cents - I don't pretend to know much more than that.
Now, what I was wondering today was - where does ham come into it? Is it meant to be the last preserved pork from the previous fall's butchering, or something? (I sure hope it didn't evolve as a way of saying "Hey, we're not Jewish" (or "Hey, we"re not Muslim."))
hmm Not sure where to ham comes from. I think its just a nice meal for people...like turkey. i dont think it has much significance....I could be completly wrong though. I am pretty sure its not a way of bashing other religions though. I should hope not anways.
For Christians ham is just another use for pig. Early Christians converted from a lot of different faiths.Thats one reason a number of Christian holidays fall on Pagan holidays as well. With the food, the major Christian Sects, basically said that the various food taboo's, except for certain religious functions, i.e. Season of Lent, didn't matter. It was one way to make Christianity seem better, than the alternatives. The Muslims and Jews not eating ham was their way of saying, 'see we're different', compared to the other people around them.
greeks have spit-roasted lamb for their easter feast... here's the explanation for early americans' penchant for ham: presumably, from that beginning, it became an american custom, just as turkey got to be the standard for thanksgiving...
