easter eggs and easter bunny!

© 2012 The Weekly Plan. All rights reserved.
EASTER EGGS AND EASTER BUNNY!
Most of us know Easter to be a Christian celebration that
honours the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
However, as Easter approaches it’s hard not to notice the
huge range of Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies on
display in shop windows and aisles. So how does this fit in
with the Christian meaning of Easter?
Well, the bunnies and the eggs largely have their roots in
Paganism.
Very generally speaking, Paganism is a
religion that honours nature and multiple Gods. Easter
takes place in the northern hemisphere’s spring, and in
Europe, before the introduction of Christianity, the pagans
had their own springtime festivals. Spring was seen as a
time to celebrate renewal, rebirth and fertility and to
request that the Gods give good crops. The Goddess of
Fertility in Northern Europe was Eostre and it is from her
that the word ‘Easter’ comes. Her symbol was the hare
because it is such a fertile animal. Due to birds laying
eggs and rabbits and hares giving birth to large litters in the
early spring, eggs and rabbits became symbols of the
Spring Festival.
As Christianity grew throughout Europe, it was common for
Christians to include pre-Christian ideas into their own
traditions, creating a mix of both Christian and Pagan
rituals. While the Pagans saw eggs as being a symbol of
new life at spring, the Christian reason behind the egg
symbol can be linked back to Lent. During the period of
Lent, eggs were a forbidden food so to mark the end of the
period of Lent fasting, people would paint and decorate
eggs and eat them at Easter as a celebration. Later, when
Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion in
Germany, Easter eggs were said to represent Jesus rising
from the dead and emerging from the tomb.
Originally, Easter eggs were wrapped in gold leaf or
coloured brightly by boiling them with leaves or petals.
They were used as gifts or in Easter egg rolling
contests.
Different cultures went on to develop their own ways
of decorating Easter eggs. Crimson eggs, to honour
the blood of Christ, are exchanged in Greece. In parts
of Germany and Austria green eggs are used on Holy
Thursday to honour the new foliage that appears in
spring. Slavic peoples decorate their eggs in patterns
of gold and silver, and Armenians decorate hollow
eggs with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other
religious designs. A pysanka is a Ukrainian Easter
egg, decorated using beeswax then dipped in dye to
create a batik look. They are given to family members
and respected outsiders.
The first Easter Bunny legend was documented in the
1500s and according to legend, Eostre, the Goddess
of spring, entertained children by turning a bird into a
rabbit. The rabbit then layed colourful eggs and gave
them away as presents.
In Germany, The Easter bunny was called ‘Oschter
Haws’ and children believed that if they were good he
would lay a nest of coloured eggs. The children would
build nests using their caps or bonnets and some
would leave their shoes out for the Easter Bunny to
fill. Eventually they started to use special Easter
baskets.
The first chocolate eggs were made in Europe in the
early 19th century and remain among the most
popular treats associated with Easter. According to
the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest
chocolate Easter egg ever made was in Italy in 2011.
At 10.39 metres in height and 7,200 kg in weight, it
was taller than a giraffe and heavier than an elephant!
© 2012 The Weekly Plan. All rights reserved.
EASTER EGGS & BUNNIES!
Easter egg hunts and egg rolling are two popular eggrelated traditions. In the U.S. the White House Easter
Egg Roll, a race in which children push decorated, hardboiled eggs across the White House lawn, is an annual
event held the Monday after Easter.
Back here in Australia it is believed we are the biggest
consumers of Easter eggs in the world! We spend over
$210 million a year on Easter confectionery and
consume around 20 eggs each.
So as you’re biting into your choccy eggs on Easter
Sunday morning, take a moment to reflect on how you
came to be enjoying this delicious treat!
Discussion Questions
Factual
1.
Which historical beliefs do Easter eggs
and bunnies have their roots in?
2.
What was the name of the Goddess of
Fertility in Northern Europe?
3.
What were the 2 christian associations
with the Easter egg?
4.
What is the name of the Ukranian
Easter egg?
5.
When were chocolate Easter eggs first
produced?
6.
How much do Australians spend on
Easter confectionery each year?
Challenge
Turn to the next page and have a go
at our Easter wordsearch…
© 2012 The Weekly Plan. All rights reserved.
EASTER WORDSEARCH
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basket
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