Hoppy Easter!
The cutest holiday is here again! I have vague childhood memories of dipping eggs in food coloring and eating pastel-colored Lofthouse cookies at church with my parents, but I’ve always wondered where Easter actually comes from. What do eggs and bunnies have to do with each other? Where does the religious element come in? Why are those pink and yellow cookies so delicious???
Easter is actually a celebration of a few different occasions. From a Christian perspective, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion. However, it’s believed that the name of this holiday was borrowed from a pagan goddess of fertility, Eostre.
Just like many of the most popular holidays, Easter traditions have been adopted by people of all beliefs. The holiday has non-secular, Western origins, and we’ll be discussing them here, but anyone can participate! So let’s get into the origins of our favorite Aries-season holiday!
The Easter Bunny
Hares have been a symbol of fertility since at least the Neolithic era. They are a different species than rabbits, but look very similar. Hares were associated with Eostre, who was a German goddess dating back to at least 731 C.E.
The concept of an Easter hare can be traced back to similar German traditions meant for children which involved them hunting for eggs. Sound familiar? Well, this aspect of Easter has remained largely unchanged. The Eostre Hare is now the Easter Bunny. ‘Bunny’ is just a term for a baby rabbit or a cutesy name for an adult rabbit. And no, none of them lay eggs. Speaking of eggs…
Easter Eggs
If bunnies don’t lay eggs, why are they associated with Easter? Most kids don’t question it, but maybe you’ve wondered - I know I have.
Eggs are associated with fertility, just like hares are. And although mammals don’t lay eggs, since hares have hollows in the ground for their babies, this may have been mistakenly considered a ‘nest’ where people may have thought baby hares were ‘hatched.’.
These ‘nests’ are represented by Easter baskets! Kind of cute, right?
Egg Coloring and Hunting
You might still be thinking, why do we dye eggs? Dyed and decorated eggs used to be given as gifts in the 13th century, and even covered in real silver. They were also given to churches as dues.
It seems that during the Victorian era there was a shift towards Easter being more of a family-oriented holiday, so egg decorating and hunting became a fun activity for children to do.
The White House traditionally does an Easter Egg Roll, which is a day of activities for families. The first Roll was in 1876, and after a Covid-related hiatus it returns this year! They’re expecting approximately 30,000 people to attend.
TwinFlame Easter Eggs
Yes, that’s right, TwinFlame has Easter Eggs! Although, not in the traditional sense. There are some fun hidden aspects to the TwinFlame app. Popups, mini-games, and even virtual reality awaits if you take your time and explore each page of the app.
I’ll give you a hint for one – if you want to know the future, look for the page that knows you best. The secret is just two shakes of a hare’s tail away…
Well, I hope you learned something about Easter! Enjoy your Sunday regardless of what you celebrate, and let me know in the comments which Easter Eggs you find in the app!