Lent, Easter and The Easter Bunny

Quite interesting to know facts and history on Easter and the significant of BUNNY in such celebration,  since, I was young I always enjoy this celebration but never had the idea why....  

Well, quite literally, the word “lent” was originally a Teutonic (the Teutons were an early Germanic tribe, before there was even really an area referred to as Germany.) word that meant nothing more than the spring season. Lent has been used for centuries by Christians to describe the 40-day period of time that leads up to the Resurrection of Our Lord. But why do we recognize these 40 days and how do we do it?

We use the season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday, as an opportunity to again especially consider the suffering and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As part of this pondering and consideration, we realize that it was our sin that put Jesus on the cross. The suffering that he suffered should be our suffering. The death he died should be our death. It’s a sobering reality, no doubt.

That’s why, although we talk about sin an awful lot throughout the year, we really emphasize it during Lent. Lent is a season of repentance that culminates in Christ’s death—the payment for those very same sins we’ve been pondering for the last 40 days.

The focus of Lent was always threefold:

It was a time to prepare new converts for baptism through intensive classes and instruction.

It was a time for long-standing Christians to review their lives and renew their commitment to Jesus Christ.

It was a time for backsliders to be restored to the faith.

In every case, it is a time for serious, disciplined self-examination, a time spent in intensive prayer and repentance before the cross of Calvary.

To represent the dark and serious business of Lent, one custom has been to strip the sanctuary of all flowers, candles, and colors during Lent. This custom helps us to turn inward and examine ourselves, even as it reminds us of the dark and colorless Sabbath day when Jesus lay dead in the tomb.

Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter Day. It is to commemorate Jesus’ last journey to Jerusalem, when people cut palm branches to spread on his path as he rode to the city. Many other traditions are associated with Palm Sunday. In some parts of England it used to be called Fig Sunday because people ate fig pies or puddings on that day. In Wales it is called Sul y Blodau, Flowering Sunday.

In Greece people like to eat fish on Palm Sunday. In some German towns people decorate poles with streamers and branches of pussy willow. Christians in Lebanon like to wear new clothes on Palm Sunday. In Italy it is regarded as a day or making up quarrels.

Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday also referred to as Maundy Thursday. In Europe the Christian monarchs used to wash the feet of poor people on the Thursday before Easter in memory of Jesus’ Act.   Also on this day Jesus ate and drank with his followers. This meal became known as the Last Supper, because Jesus died soon after.

Good Friday
Good Friday is the commemoration of the Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus. In some countries the bells are tolled while in other countries they are silenced until Sunday. A custom also is the eating of Hot Cross Buns. Many superstitions go with hot cross buns such as they are a charm against evil and to keep indefinitely.

An Old Rhyme says:Good Friday comes this month: the old woman runs
With one a penny, two a penny hot cross buns;
Whose virtue is, if you'll believe what's said,
They'll not grow mouldy like the common bread.

Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday is part of the period mourning which begins on Good Friday. For Christians in countries such as Bulgaria, Greece and Poland, Hoy Saturday is a day of cooking, ready for the feasting the following day to celebrate the Resurrection.

Easter Day
Easter day is the Commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus, with its promise of eternal life. A symbol of the Resurrection is the egg out of which a bird hatches.

It is an ancient tradition in Britain to climb the nearest hill to see the sunrise. In America they hold outdoor services at dawn in such places as the Hollywood Bowl. On this day it is also tradition to wear new clothes which have been carried on to the modern "Easter Parade".

There is always a Feast with various foods in different countries such as hot cross buns in Australia; simnel cake in Britain; pacoca in Brazil; Easter cakes in Finland and Italy; turkey or chicken in Lebanon; and pasenbrood in the Netherlands.

Easter Monday
Easter Monday is day of sports and games o various kinds. In Britain Football is the game played. There also is the game of egg shackling in which you hold a hard-boiled egg firmly in your hand and hit against another opponents. Another game is Ducking Monday.  The reason was that on this day young girls were thrown in ponds or lakes. The girls were expected to find this funny. They were told it would make them better wives and also that they were more likely to have children.

Other Easter Days
Eastertide goes on until Whit Sunday, fifty days after Easter day. The day is also known as Pentecost. Several other days during Eastertide are; the first Sunday after Easter is

known as Low Sunday. In England the Monday and Tuesday following Low Sunday are called Hocktide. Hocktide Monday is were the women bind and gag them until they pay a ransom, then on Tuesday it's the men's turn to do the same in kind to the women. This tradition is at least a thousand years old.

Ascension
Ascension is the fortieth day from Easter Day. It was on this day that Jesus ascended into Heaven. Ascension Day falls on a Thursday. The Paschal candle which was lit on Easter Day to mark the resurrection is put out to mark Jesus’ departure from Earth.

The Cross is the symbol of the Crucifixion, as opposed to the Resurrection. However, at the Council of Nicaea, in A.D. 325, Constantine decreed that the Cross was the official symbol of Christianity. The Cross is not only a symbol of Easter, but it is more widely used, especially by the Catholic Church, as a year-round symbol of their faith.

The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.  The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the spring season.

(photo credit: http://www.herbsociety-stu.org/DyeingEggs.htm) The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America.  The bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have it's origins in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s. The first bunnies were not made of chocolate; they were made of pastry and sugar. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter by its self was not widely celebrated in America until after that time. As I mentioned the Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the "Oschter Haws" was considered "childhood's greatest pleasure" next to a visit from Christ-Kindel on Christmas Eve. The children believed that if they were good the "Oschter Haws" would lay a nest of colored eggs. The children would build their nest in a secluded place in the home, the barn or the garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make the nests. The use of elaborate Easter baskets would come later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers. German settlers believed a white hare would leave brightly colored eggs for all good children on Easter morning.  Early American children built nests of leaves and sticks in their gardens for the Easter Hare to fill with colored eggs.  By the 19th century in America, the Easter Hare had become the Easter Bunny delighting children with baskets of eggs, chocolates, candy chicks, jelly beans and other gifts on Easter morning. (Photo credit; http://seasonalhome.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/extreme-easter-egg-hunt/)

Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.  

As a child I can remember that all Chocolate Easter Bunnies and Eggs were solid chocolate.  Also, it was a tradition to make hard boiled eggs and then dip dye them.  I enjoyed decorating the eggs, but never liked eating hard boiled eggs.

Originally Easter eggs were painted with bright colors to represent

the sunlight of spring and were used in Easter-eggrolling contests or given as gifts. After they were colored and etched with various designs the eggs were exchanged by lovers and romantic admirers, much the same as valentines. In medieval time eggs were traditionally given at Easter to the servants. In Germany eggs were given to children along with other Easter gifts. Different cultures have developed their own ways of decorating Easter eggs. Crimson eggs, to honor the blood of Christ, are exchanged in Greece. In parts of Germany and Austria green eggs are used on Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday). Slavic peoples decorate their eggs in special patterns of gold and silver.

Source:  http://pastordave80.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/march-newsletter-article/
             http://www.phancypages.com/newsletter/ZNewsletter2599.htm