The Sunday of Joy

by Lyn Horner

“An Easter Bonnet represents the tail-end of a tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter . . . .” ~~Wikipedia

But did you know Easter bonnets actually pre-date Easter itself? It’s true. In pagan times a circlet of leaves and flowers symbolized the coming of spring and rebirth. Later, Christians adopted the same symbols for new life and redemption at Easter.

The Easter bunny also evolved from pagan roots. On the Vernal Equinox in pre-Christian Germany, feasts celebrated Eostra, the Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Eostra was symbolized by a rabbit. Remember the expression breed like rabbits?

1907 Postcard of the Easter Bunny ~ from Wikipedia Commons

When Catholicism blended with pagan beliefs in 15^th century Germany, Easter celebrations usurped the bunny and eggs to stand for the resurrection of Christ. Later, German settlers brought the tradition of egg-laying bunnies to America in the 1700s. Their children made nests for colored eggs – called Osterhase.

However, Easter wasn’t celebrated by all early Americans, especially the Puritans. Author Steve Englehart says, “They knew that pagans had celebrated the return of spring long before Christians celebrated Easter…for the first two hundred years of European life in North America, only a few states, mostly in the south, paid much attention to Easter.”

It took the Civil War to make Easter an accepted holiday in this country. In the south, Easter was called “The Sunday of Joy.” Widows, mothers and daughters gave up wearing black, donning pastel colors and spring flowers, perhaps signaling the beginning of new life for them.

Around 1870, the German tradition of coloring eggs became widely popular, and parents started giving small treats to their children. The 1870s also introduced New York City’s famed Easter Parade, which wended its way from St. Patrick’s Cathedral down Fifth Avenue. I’m sure you all recall Irving Berlin’s song:

In your Easter bonnet

with all the frills upon it,

You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.

Easter Parade, 1900 ~ from Wikipedia Commons

What about on the western frontier? Did pioneer women dress up in new clothes and fancy bonnets to celebrate Easter when just getting to church could be a hard, dangerous undertaking? Maybe not, but as life became a bit more settled, I bet they did. Frontier moms also colored eggs with their kids. (See Tanya Hanson’s post “To Dye For” from April 16th.)

Easter bonnets and pretty new dresses still mark the beginning of spring, warm weather and new life. How about you? Are you wearing your Easter bonnet on this Sunday of Joy?

Easter on the Kansas Prairie late 1800s by Sandra Crowley

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL

I hope you and your family are enjoying this day of rebirth.

Easter on the Kansas prairie was sparse in the late 1800s. At least it was for those members of my family who left Germany and settled on the wind swept grasslands. Like the majority of pioneers, they worked long hard hours to establish farms they hoped would shelter and feed their families. They had little time for frivolities. However, Christmas and Easter warranted trips to Bloom or Delhi, the nearest Osborne County towns, to attend church and socialize, maybe join in an Easter Egg Hunt.



Ernest, Edo, Elsie Sunday-go-to-meeting duds

 I suppose the kids back then asked the same question I asked my mom decades ago, “Why does the Easter bunny bring eggs?” Two possible answers appeal to me. The first: Rabbits symbolize fertility. Fertility is the basis of spring. And, spring coincides with Easter, the time of rebirth. The second: German legend tells of an egg-laying hare named Osterhase that youngsters made nests for, leaving them outside for the rabbit to lay her eggs in. Osterhase might have evolved from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, Eostre (or Ostara in German), who was said to have changed her pet bird into a rabbit to entertain children. The rabbit laid brightly colored eggs to the delight of the kids.

But, why eggs? Rabbits don’t lay eggs; they give live birth to bunnies. The answer could be that ancient romans believed all life came from eggs. Lent played its part, too, in Medieval Europe. The christian time of penance and fasting forbade consumption of eggs. Instead of letting the protein rich food spoil, Christians boiled their eggs or preserved them in some other manner until fasting ended on Easter. They were then the mainstay of that first meal. They were even given as presents to children or servants because many believed two yolks in an Easter egg meant the finder would soon grow rich. Christians of the time period also believed that if one kept an egg laid on Good Friday for one hundred years, its yolk would turn into a diamond. Considering how many things my family passed down through the years, I’m surprised we don’t have an egg or two among our treasures.

What we saved are adorable construction paper Easter Baskets we made as children in grade school. Do you remember those? Do you have one that your mother treasured and passed to you? Maybe you have one of your child’s tucked away in a baby book? They are the modern equivalent of the nests German children made for Osterhase centuries ago. Life continues, always changing, yet remaining the same.

Wishing you all the very best,
Sandra Crowley