Easter Symbols and Superstitions
By: Tippy & Alfred
Easter has many elements to it that people around the world
celebrate. Some of the most well-known are probably the
Easter Bunny, baby chicks and the Easter Egg. But where do
these symbols come from? What is their history and how did
these elements become a part of a holiday that celebrates
the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Here are a few of the
stories about the origins and symbology of the symbols
associated with the Easter holiday:
The Colors of Easter
The colors powder blue, pink, white, yellow and purple have
long been associated with Easter, but it is actually purple
that has long been the traditional color that symbolizes
Easter. Purple is said to represent both a loving union and
repentance with pain. Purple back in ancient times was only
worn by nobility because of the expense of making the dye,
so it also has come to stand for royalty. White stands for
purity and yellow represents happiness and sunlight, and
these are the most common Easter colors following Purple.
Bells and Blooming Fireworks
Both the ringing of bells and the shooting of fireworks at
Easter are essentially done for the same purpose. Easter is
celebrated in over eighty countries, and in many of them
people began to shoot off fireworks as a way to scare off
evil spirits, witches or ghosts that might be lurking about.
Fireworks can also be said to symbolize the sun's rays and
the return of Spring and the triumph over death and darkness
on the earth.
The ringing of bells on Easter Sunday or during the entire
period of Lent to Easter Sunday is a declaration that Spring
is here and to (you guessed it) scare off evil spirits.
The Easter Bunny - Rabbit or Hare?
Children are not picky on this point so long as it has long
ears and hops. In fact, hares and rabbits are in the same
scientific family of Leporidae and so are very similar.
Hares have longer back legs and shorter ears, and their
babies, unlike the young of rabbits, are born with plenty of
hair and able to hop and feed themselves. The Easter bunny
is an immigrant to the United States via German immigrants,
who called them "Oschter Haws".
Rabbits and hares are a symbol of fertility that is often
associated with Spring. These little guys can procreate
rapidly and if they weren't so tasty to predators they would
have over-populated the earth long ago. A bunny's foot is
said to be lucky and is a natural progression from the idea
of their being fertile little lagomorphs.
The tradition of the Easter Bunny is said to derive from an
Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring, by the name of Ostara, whose
symbol was the hare. There is no association with the Easter
Bunny in the Christian faith, even though Christian children
know of the symbol and are often told the tale of the Easter
Bunny and encouraged to play Easter egg games.
And of course who could forget the chocolate eggs, bunnies
and other candy that abound during the Easter Holiday? This
part of the tradition began with children making nests in
the barn or leaving their caps and bonnets out for the
Easter Bunny to fill up. It was only in recent times that
the tradition of giving an Easter basket full of goodies
began.
The Bonnet
In the 1930's the wearing of bonnets was popular and getting
a new Easter bonnet to wear to Easter Sunday's church
service or the Promenade afterward came into vogue. In the
popular song written in 1933 by Irving Berlin, "Easter
Parade," this tradition is given a couple of verses. Today,
getting an entire new Easter Outfit is more commonly
accepted. And nowadays the idea of getting a new bonnet or
hat has been replaced with the gift of candy, flowers, a
wreath for the door or other such items.
The Easter Pretzel and Hot Cross Buns
Originally the eating of wheat cakes as part of the Easter
celebration was celebrated by the Anglo-Saxons to honor
their goddess of Spring, Eostre. Hot Cross Buns come into
play as part of the evolution of this celebration. it is
said that during the fifth century English Monks baked hot
cross buns at the Vatican during the forty days of Lent and
give them to the poor in Rome. The cross on the buns was of
course another attempt to encourage the common people to
appreciate religion and the church. This is also where
pretzels originated. The monks sometimes made the bread into
a symbol that looked to them like a person praying with arms
folded across their chest. The traditional salt on top of
the pretzels was very welcome, as salt was a rare and
valuable commodity.
The Easter Lily
The lily is not originally from the United States, it comes
to us via Bermuda but originally from Japan. The lily only
blooms in Spring and is a common symbol of Easter because of
the timing of its bloom. (But the lily does not naturally
bloom around Easter; science has done the deed of making
millions of lilies bloom on time for Easter.) Some people
believe that because the lily comes from a bulb, it is a
symbol of life after death. Others believe it is a symbol
for Gabriel the angel's horn.
The Holy Cross Fish or Easter Fish
The catfish of a particular genus called "Arius" has been
dubbed the Holy Cross Fish or the Easter Fish because of its
skeleton. The shape of its skull looks like a cross like the
one that Jesus was crucified on. And on each side of the
fish it looks like a person is kneeling. During Lent there
are vast schools of these catfish in Central and South
America. In the Eighteenth Century, waffle and catfish was a
popular supper along the Schuylkill River around
Philadelphia, PA, like barbeque is nowadays.
Easter Eggs and
games with Easter Eggs have their own
private stories elsewhere on our website...
Back To:
All About The Holidays
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