Tag Archives: Easter

He has risen, happy Easter

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Hello and happy Easter everyone.

How are you all enjoying this wonderful Easter Sunday? Easter here in our home was quiet. We slept in a bit. Got up and checked out what the Easter Bunny brought us. My basket was filled with wonderful gifts from Bath and Body works. John’s basket was overflowing with lots of healthy snacks and of course, the kiddos basket was filled with lots of yummy candies and a few chocolates scattered throughout.

As promised, I said I’d come back today to wrap up our discussion regarding the different aspects of Easter. Today, we’ll talk about how candy, the parades, the lamb and of course, the lilies came about.

Before we talk about those fun Easter traditions, I forgot to tell you about the Easter eggs and how they came into play with Easter and of course, the infamous, Easter Bunny.

According to History.com, the Easter eggs are more than likely linked back to the pagan traditions as the egg is an ancient symbol of new life. New life is often thought about in pagan festivals that celebrate spring.

So you maybe wondering, how did the pagan traditions creep their way into Christianity? Easy, you see, from the perspective of Christians, Easter eggs represent Jesus’ emergence from the tomb and resurrection.

The whole decorating of the eggs dates back to at least the 13th century. Some figure the tradition began with the thought that at one time, eggs were a forbidden food during lent, therefore, people would decorate them to mark the end of penance and fasting, then eat them on Easter as a celebration.

Decorating was a fun way to end a fast and make celebrating a little more fun with colorful eggs.

The candy. Easter Candy is the second best selling holiday candy next to Halloween candy of course. Chocolate eggs are still one of the most popular dating back to the 19-century in Europe. Another popular candy is the egg-shaped jelly bean which came onto the Easter scene in the 1930’s and it’s thought that jelly beans origins date all the way back to a Biblical-era creation called the Turkish Delight.

Onto the history of the Easter Parade and how it came about. The Easter Parade began back in the mid-1800’s in New York City. The upper crust, or class of society attended Easter services at many of the Fifth Avenue churches and afterward, they’d venture outside to show off their new spring outfits and hats.

With so many new and extravagant outfits and hats, the common folk began taking notice, thus showing up along Fifth Avenue to check out all the bling. This was becoming so popular, to the point where it was becoming a tradition and by the mid-20th century, the popular movie was released, “Easter Parade.” This famous film starred Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, with music by Irving Berlin. “In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it. You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.”

The Easter Parade has no religious significance, however, sources state that the Easter processions have been a huge part of Christianity since early on.

Regarding the Lamb and other traditional foods related to Easter, how did they come about and why lamb? Christians refer to Jesus as the “Lamb of God.” Lamb does have it’s root in early Passover celebrations. The lamb was sacrificed and it’s blood used to paint the doors of the Israelites, thus, it is believed, God would pass over their homes. Doing this would spare the first born son from being killed. So, the lamb makes sense since Easter is essentially the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the wiping away of sin.

Easter lilies and flowers, oh how I love Easter Lilies and flowers. Maybe it’s because in a way, they signify spring for me and I do love spring when all the flowers bloom, I know for some of you, spring is a difficult season with all the pollen in the air. Allergies!

According to History.com, the Easter Lily symbolize the purity of Christ to Christians and they are most definitely, a common decoration in churches and homes around the Easter Holiday season. Lilies are bulbs that are dormant in winter months and grow into beautiful flowers in spring, which symbolizes the rebirth and hope of Christ’s resurrection. After WWI, the Lily became the unofficial flower of Easter celebrations across the United States.

And there you have it folks, a little bit of history regarding this very special day, Easter.

I do hope you enjoyed the blog and I can’t wait to see what your thoughts are regarding this blog or any others I’ve written.

If you have a moment, I’d very much appreciate you subscribing to my blog and of course, all comments are always welcome.

Until next time, don’t forget, open your hearts, listen and evolve today++

The Easter Bunny:

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Happy Friday,

How are you all doing on this amazing Friday evening? What a beautiful day it’s been. Can you believe how amazing the weather has been this week? Hard to believe we are expecting tons of rain and in some areas folks will be getting a little bit of snow over the next couple of days.

As promised, today we’ll be chatting about the Easter Bunny and how he found his place within the entire holiday.

According to History.com, the Easter Bunny or Hare, “originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behavior at the start of the season of Eastertide, similar to the “naughty or nice” list made by Santa Claus.”

Yesterday I shared with you that Easter was mentioned in the Bible in the book of Acts, chapter 12 verse 4, however, there is nowhere in the Bible that mentions the Easter Bunny, yet, the Easter Bunny has become a huge part of Easter.

The Easter Bunny is a huge part or prominent symbol of Christianity and is very important to the entire holiday. While the origins of the mythical bunny are unclear, we do know that rabbits are known to be “prolific procreators, which are ancient symbols of fertility and a new life.”

So, when did the Easter Bunny hop on the holiday’s scene? He first arrived in American in the 1700’s when the German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania. They brought their traditions of an egg-laying bunny who they called, Osterhase or Oschter Haws.

The tradition of the egg-laying bunny included children making nests so the bunny could lay it’s colored eggs. This tradition spread across the US and once that happened, the Easter Bunny not only delivered colored eggs, but he began to deliver chocolate and other types of candy and gifts.

Now that kids were getting more than just a few colored eggs, the nests they made began to fade and baskets in which they decorated took their place.

One thing that seems to be lost in the original Easter Bunny tradition is children leaving out carrots, just in case the bunny got hungry from hippity hopping around to al the children dropping off their Easter delights.

As far as traditions are concerned regarding Easter, there are no known links between the Easter Bunny and Jesus, other than, and this is a stretch, they are both tied to the holiday which is a celebration of a resurrection, and they both are symbols of new life.

When Jesus died and was resurrected, his death signified the washing away of our sins and the resurrection represented a new life. Not sure how the bunny fits into a resurrection, but we all know, bunnies seem to bring about new life and lots of it, quite often. This makes sense since the bunny is a symbol of fertility.

The Easter Bunny is a fun part of Easter and he brings so much joy to little ones. While he doesn’t really have any biblical ties to Jesus or the holiday’s meaning, it has become a tradition or symbol of Easter and one that brings so much joy to young ones.

Kids get up on Easter Sunday and can’t wait to find their baskets full of yummies and little ones certainly enjoy the tradition of hunting for the colored eggs their favorite bunny has hidden and left for them to find.

The Easter Bunny certainly has become an iconic part of the entire Easter holiday celebration, but wait, what about the candy, the Easter parades, the lamb and Easter Lilies?

Well, you’ll have to come back this weekend for those answers. I’ll make sure to look up some information to share with you.

I want to thank you for reading today’s blog and until next time, don’t forget, open your hearts, listen and evolve today++

What is Easter?

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Happy Thursday evening from my home to yours. I do hope this blog finds you well and safe.

I thought tonight I’d talk about Easter. In fact, I was thinking it would be nice to talk a little bit about Easter over the course of the next few days, after all, Easter will be here in 3 more days.

If your a religious person, or Christian, you probably celebrate Easter and you probably have an understanding of what the origin of Easter is, and that’s awesome. Seeing that we are so close to Easter though, I thought it might be good to refresh our minds behind the meaning of Easter and exactly what it is. Who knows, maybe we’ll learn something new about this much celebrated holiday.

I was scrolling google today to get a little more insight on Easter and this is what I found. On christmascentral.com it says, “like Christmas, Easter has roots in both Christianity and ancient pagan culture. Though it is mostly considered a religious holiday, many of our modern traditions are rooted in pre-Christian practices.”

Most religions do celebrate Easter. Some religions began the prelude to Easter Sunday back on Ash Wednesday, which happened to fall on Valentines Day this year. What is Ash Wednesday? Well, it’s the day when priests and pastors rub ashes from the prior year’s Palm Sunday palms on the foreheads of those in attendance at their churches.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent in which people are encouraged to find their own method of confronting their sins. They are encouraged to remember their own mortality, along with giving thanks for the salvation by means of Jesus Christ who gave his life and died upon the cross. People are reminded that Jesus died for our sins, then was resurrected back into the heavenly realm to sit beside his father.

During Lent, many people choose to give something up for 40 days. I knew someone in school back in the day who gave up soda, another gave up meat and I’ve heard of people giving up sex. Generally folks give up something they really love. This helps hopefully helps them by switching focus off self and onto the reason for Lent and the sacrifice made by Christ for all of our sins.

Lent ends during Holly Week, which begins with Palm Sunday. This signifies when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and was greeted by palm branches. Just a couple of days later, is Holy Wednesday. Holy Wednesday recognizes Judas Iscariot with his plot of betrayal of our savior, but that’s not all, the next day is Holy Thursday, which represents the anniversary of the Last Supper to be followed by Good Friday, the day set aside to observe the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

All of these days or events that are observed, they are days to reflect on the days and weeks leading up to Jesus not only dying for us, but being resurrected. Easter is the day we celebrate Jesus being raised from the tomb. Easter also ends Lent for those who practice that custom.

I was told, Easter is mentioned in the Bible, however, I never saw it until tonight. In the King James Bible, in the book of Acts, chapter 12, verse 4 it reads: And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring.

Other versions use Passover instead of Easter, but I did find it interesting to see the word Easter actually mentioned in scripture.

So as far as Easter is concerned, where did it come from? Well, according to the same article in christmascentral.com, it says, “Easter actually originated as an ancient pagan celebration of the spring equinox. In Christianity, the day was dedicated to observing the resurrection of Jesus, which was celebrated around the time of the Jewish Passover. Eventually, early Christians merged their ceremonies with Jewish customs, thereby, recognizing Easter as “resurrection day.”

I suppose some of us look to Easter as a very important holiday, especially those of us who believe in the story of Jesus and the days leading up to his death and resurrection. For others, perhaps Easter is celebrated because of the joy of having family gather and enjoying the traditions that come along with Easter.

I’m not a religious person, not anymore, but I have found a new way of being close to God and that’s by becoming spiritual. I celebrate Easter and I do think about Christ and what he did for me. I know he died a horrific death and he died, not only for me, but for all of mankind. When I reflect on the gift Jesus gave to us by sacrificing his life, I want to reflect on it and how it’s benefited me and my loved ones.

I think we all sometimes get so wrapped up in the traditons, we forget the meaning behind certain things. In this case, it’s possible that we could get so caught up in the tradition, we fail to remember the reason.

“The very first Easter taught us this: that life never ends and love never dies.”-Kate Mc Gahan.

On that note, I’ll be saying goodbye for tonight, but be on the look out tomorrow. I can hardly wait to find out the origin of the Easter Bunny and the hiding and decorating of the Easter Eggs.

Are you curious too, well come on back and we’ll learn together, better yet, subscribe to my blog so you never miss an upload.

Hope you’ll come back and join me as I share what I learn about those two fun Easter traditions.

Until next time, open your hearts, listen and evolve today++