Easter, the most significant feast day on the Christian calendar is here. The festival is celebrated as Christians believe that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose again three days later and those three days are known as the Easter Triduum.
But then like millions of people you must be wondering what do egg-hiding, delicious chocolate covered in vivid plastic shells, bunnies and pretty flowers have to do with this festival?
Significantly, egg was seen as a mark of spring, a celebration of the rebirth even before the origin of Christianity. Eggs would then be broken against one another, leaving just unfilled shells – a sign of the empty tomb Jesus left behind. Thus, the tradition continues to exist today in the shape of egg rolling – showing the rolling away of the rock from Jesus’ tomb.
But, with the passage of time, Easter eggs became increasingly elaborately decorated, possibly by Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé, maker of the precious Fabergé eggs as Easter gifts for Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II.
However, the introduction of chocolate eggs is a comparatively a novel trend and finds its origin in France and Germany in the 19th century. With chocolate production becoming highly sophisticated, the Easter festival, like Christmas, has also became more marketable.
The story of Easter Bunny:
As per Discovery news, the Easter Bunny legend was first recognized in the 1500s. By 1680, the first tale about an egg-laying rabbit who then hid the eggs in a garden was published. Reportedly, the idea of an egg-laying bunny was brought to America by German immigrants in the 1700s.
It was named the “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws” and children used to make nests for it to lay eggs. The customs spread across the country, and the rabbit diversified and began giving out chocolate, candy and presents.
These days, Easter is a significant time of business with retailers and manufacturers persuading people to buy highly decorated Easter eggs, cards and anything depicting bunnies. Well, this could get even bigger if Easter becomes a fixed date in the calendar. As of now, Easter is a movable feast, a date determined by the lunar calendar.
