Well, Easter is fast approaching. Normally, its one of my least favorite holidays because -
- I'm Agnostic, so the religious spirit of it doesn't aftect me as much as others;
- Peeps and Circus Peanuts could be the most disgusting things ever invented;
- I don't get any extra days off work;
- I don't care for Easter-type foods such as Ham and ....... ummmm........;
- It's light on family as many of them are off to other locations;
- Normally (when its in March) there's no good sports to watch on TV.
Having said that, its different this year in that I get joy from The Little One dressing up and excitedly searching for eggs. Plus, I can ogle Mrs. Blogger since she dresses for dinner too. A plus!
This year promises more family as a lot of Mrs. Blogger's family are staying local and I haven't seen some of them in quite a while. So that will be great.
Easter is late enough this year so there's baseball and the Master's golf tournament that day. Knowing me, I'll chow down on Easter Ham (hopefully avoiding those damn peppercorns), have a few drinks, some great conversation and get home in time to watch the last hour of golf. Then on later that night on ESPN my team plays the Rangers in high definition.
So I have that going for me.
Now -- how the hell did the Easter Bunny and egg/candy hunts come about from a religious holiday? And what the F kinda screwed up rabbit lays eggs?
I did a bit of Googling on the 'net. Apparently, prior to the birth of Christ, parents told their children that a magical hare would bring gifts for the spring festival. Those gifts, often times, were colored eggs which represented new life. Probably at some point it became more fun to make the kids work just a little for their treats, so the parents hid them (citation).
The bunny came about because it "had been a symbol of fertility and renewal of life which fit in with the tradition of Easter"(citation). That and Trix Cereal of course.
I'm sure all of this is perpetuated by Hallmark, CVS, Walgreens and whathaveyou as well. Oh, and that company that makes the fake grass. And peeps. Probably a strong lobby, eh?
Happy Easter everyone!
9 kind commenters:
Happy Easter to you as well!
I love circus peanuts. I don't know why, all they are is suger but they are wonderful.
Enjoy your weekend. I agree with you about the rabbit though, why does it lay eggs?
I know you explained that... but still we shuck all sorts of things from our past. Why was this one that hung on?
Oh, you like them? ewwww....
When I was a kid, my parents used to hide all kinds of candy. Now, since there was a bunch of us, we were only allowed to "find" so many items. Therefore, we made sure NOT to discover the circus peanuts and peeps, opting instead to "find" the Cadbury Eggs, etc.
I remember once finding a Circus Peanut in July
Easter was originally a pagan celebration of the Vernal Equinox, and spring in general: the season of rebirth, blah blah. Many religious holidays were dated around existing pagan celebrations to make conversion to christianity easier for the defeated savages.
Thus, most of the iconography and tradition we associate with these holidays has to do with those actual origins, not the Christian shit that supplanted them.
ever put a peep in the microwave? hahaha They have gigantic peeps now. I saw one in Walgreens and the fuckin thing was bigger than my hand!
Thanks Whitey! Good info.
Sheila the little ones are gross enough -- I'd be terrified of one bigger than your hand!
I have learned something today.
Well good! :)
Intersting. We do celebrate Easter, but I always wondered why bunnies and eggs were involved.
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