We wish everyone a Happy Sunday. We also thank neighbor Judith Fuller for this road banner of symbols that have become associated with Easter, broadly defined.
Some think that Easter was named after Eostre, the Germanic fertility goddess. In spring, she was thought to carry a basket of seedlings and eggs representing fertility and new life. Early Christians stained eggs red in spring to help them think of Jesus having to shed blood before finding a new, resurrected life. Medieval Catholics celebrated the end of Lent’s fasting by bringing baskets of food to church to be blessed and exchanged as part of the cleansing renewal.
European folklore soon created the idea of a rabbit that left baskets of decorated chicken eggs to surprise children at this time of year. If the eggs were fertile, new life soon came in the form of fuzzy chicks. Easter candy in the form of eggs, rabbits, and chicks followed, including little egg-shaped candy that became known as jelly beans. (Brooklin, Maine)