Horsin' Around
Don Coldsmith, Syndicated Columnist
Originally published 12:58 p.m., March 24, 2008
Updated 12:58 p.m., March 24, 2008
One of the most intriguing holidays in our culture is that of Easter. It’s a religious holiday, connected with Christianity and the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his execution by the Romans.
Occasionally I offend someone, when I’ve written about religion. That’s not my intention here. Rather, to interest people in looking at the origins of their own beliefs. Anyone should be interested in the history of his/her own faith and how it came to be. Easter is, to Christians, nearly the entire basis of our faith, though we can’t agree about it sometimes.
I’m startled, occasionally, when I start to research some of the information that I thought I knew about. Easter, for instance. Basically, it’s quite limited to a single religion, Christianity, in all its forms.
When I’m writing, I always look at how that topic is handled in at least one encyclopedia. There may be several interpretations. I’ve written about Easter before, but somehow I had overlooked a few facts.
When we get right down to studying the celebration of Easter, world-wide, there is an incredible amount of variety. Customs vary from deeply serious to deliberately silly customs, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ.
It is what’s called a “movable feast” day in the Christian religion, the date falling on “the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. It cannot come before March 22, or after April 25. I haven’t been able to discover just HOW it works, but this method of selecting the date has been in use for 2,000 years.
The association of eggs with Easter seems to be related to the concept of new life and can be traced to ancient Persia. They have a tradition that the earth hatched out of a giant egg.
I shudder to think of who LAID that egg. I don’t think we’d want to know.
Along the way of Easter Eggs comes the Easter Rabbit. This is sometimes confusing to children and eventually calls attention to the fact that rabbits don’t lay eggs. Being mammals, rabbits are born alive. Somewhere along the line Br’er Rabbit has become the custodian of eggs and consequently, baby chicks.
The Easter new-life theme turns up in different ways in different parts of the world, with their own interpretation. In France, one legend has stated that church bells cease to ring from Good Friday until Easter. Symbolically, the bells “fly to Rome” until Easter, then drop eggs on the way back for children to find. (Don’t stand underneath!)
The coloring of eggs turns up in strange customs. In Germany at one time all Easter eggs were green. There seems to have been, in all countries, a great deal of variation in Easter custom and tradition with constant change.
Along with rabbits and eggs, there have been a great many foods associated with Easter. “Hot Cross Buns,” for instance, along with “fig pies” in Britain. They also have some odd informal ceremonies, such as “clipping the church,” especially in rural areas.
This informal event consists of the congregation, hand in hand, circling outside the building in an unbroken chain. While I found that a rather appealing ceremony, it would certainly be uncomfortable in case of a spring rain.
But, I have a tendency to quote a wise old minister whose approach was: “Anything that makes anyone feel closer to God and doesn’t hurt anyone else should be okay with me!”
See you down the road.