The Calendar
March's Desktops
You affect the world by what you browse.
Tim Berners-Lee
A different Easter?
Eggs & Bunnies & Pagans
Right then, according to the old Pagans, 'Eostre' was a Teutonic lunar Goddess. Her identifiable symbols were the rabbit and the egg. Her original name has been lost as the name of her springtime/'rising of the sap' celebration was most likely translated into Latin before the Roman legions left in the 5th Century AD. The name itself 'Eostre' is purportedly linked through it's association with the dawn/rebirth/sunrise to the 'East'
Now sometime in the 8th century, the Venerable Bede wrote : 'Eosturmonath' has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs [Pagans] named 'Eostre', in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.' The word Paschal comes from the Greek word 'pascha' - meaning 'Passover'. In essence this explains why Easter offers something for many different cultures.
Of late, another neo-pagan legend has sprung up concerning the Easter Bunny. The legend goes that 'Eostre' found a wounded bird in the snow. In order to help the bird survive, she transformed it into a rabbit. However, the transformation did not take full effect and the 'rabbit' retained the ability to lay eggs. The rabbit, in order to thank 'Eostre' for saving its life, decorated all the eggs it laid and left them as gifts for the Goddess.
Despite being a nice story, many experts have deemed it folklore as this tail has never appeared in historical pagan accounts or been recounted by famous folklorists such as Grimm.
Eggs, rabbits and indeed hares are all symbols of fertility, especially at this time of year. The sayings, 'Mad as a March hare' & 'At it like rabbits' are derived from their mating rituals, capering and contests at this time of year.
According to American tradition, the Easter Bunny leaves baskets of treats (including Easter eggs and assorted chocolates and candy) on Easter morning for children who have been good. Sometimes kiddies leave out carrots for the Easter Bunny, which is similar to the practice of leaving milk and cookies for Santa Claus. In the US, revellers hide decorated hard-boiled eggs and children hunt for them. People also hide plastic eggs filled with candy or money.
Our next calendar download will be available on Monday, 2nd April.