EASTER 2020 school holidays Why is Easter celebrated on a different date each year? It’s a question posed by many children and one that baffles many parents. But we have the answer. Easter coincides with the autumn equinox, which occurs on March 20 this year, when day and night are of equal length. Many ancient cultures have celebrated this as a time of birth and renewal after the long northern winter. It always falls on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the equinox, making it any time between March 21 and April 25. So there you go. In this increasingly secular age, many of us associate Easter with chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies, even though we’re aware of its religious importance – especially the Christian commemoration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and the Jewish Passover festival. But while those chocolate Easter eggs we tend to gorge ourselves on are a relatively modern part of Easter, the origin of the Easter egg itself – and even the beloved Easter bunny – actually pre-dates Christianity. The whole shebang is a historical intermingling of pagan, Christian and Jewish beliefs.
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Easter follows Lent, a 40-day period of penitence beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Sunday. It also falls near the time of the Passover, an eight-day observance commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. And where does all the other Easter paraphernalia come from? Well, let’s start with the name. ‘Easter’ has been traced to the Scandinavian ‘ostra’ and the Germanic ‘ostern or ‘eastre, all of which derive from the names of mythological goddesses of spring and fertility. Both the Easter egg and its delivery system have their origins in paganism. Rabbits were the most potent symbol of fertility, while the egg – the source of life – was often thought to have magical powers. The Easter Bunny him/herself originated in Germany. Children believed the Easter Bunny would leave them coloured eggs if they were good, and left out their Easter bonnets and caps for the spoils. The hot cross bun, which these days seem to appear in our shops just after Christmas, has rather gruesome origins. At the feast of Eostre to celebrate the Saxon fertility goddess, an ox was sacrificed and its horns – crossed – were carved into bread. ‘Bun’, incidentally,
derives from the Saxon word ‘boun’, meaning ‘sacred ox’. Not much comfort to the ox . . . The Easter lily is associated with fertility because it looks like reproductive organs. Apparently. Easter candles are another throwback to pagans, who would light bonfires to welcome the rebirth of their sun god. Christians now light candles during their Easter Vigil service. Now we get to the good stuff: the chocolate Easter egg. French and German chocolatiers began making them in the early 19th century; the first were solid chocolate before the tricky art of making hollow ones could be mastered. John Cadbury made his first ‘French eating chocolate’ in 1842, but the first Easter eggs to carry his name didn’t arrive for another 33 years. Happy Easter, readers!
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