Happy bunny-and-egg day! Whatever you call it, this is a fun day, and a great time of year. Our American manifestation of this ancient and primordial feast day puts the emphasis on fun, as it should. Chocolate bunnies, colored eggs, excited kids, getting outdoors, parades, family get-togethers–all sorts of enjoyment of the season of the renewal of life!
Like many another holiday, this one has a long history. 4,500 years ago, when the pyramids were being built, ancient Egyptians celebrated the bursting-forth of crops from the ground with feasts. To this day, both Coptic Christians and Muslims in Cairo still mark the day, although now they celebrate with dyed hard-boiled eggs and chocolate bunnies. It’s said that it becomes all-but-impossible to find white eggs in the markets, at any price.
I turned up this information while researching my current in-progress novel, The Jihad Virus, in which one of the protagonists is a half-Copt, half-Muslim woman, Jameela Noori. More about her in another post, but right now there’s more to tell about Easter.
The Copts, of course, celebrate the classic Easter, with the death and resurrection of Jesus taking the place of the ancient fertility celebration of pagan times. The Muslims, whose religion frowns on images of martyred prophets, bunnies, or chicks, instead celebrate a day of “taking the air,” or “smelling the breezes,” on which, after feasting on colored eggs, people dress nicely and go out into the fresh spring air for a stroll about the neighborhood. A bit like the Easter Parade, no?
The Pharaonic origins of the festival are lost, but other cultures have retained some bits and pieces. The image above is of Ishtar, the 4,000 year-old Mesopotamian goddess of fertility. The image at right shows Eostre, the Germanic tribal version of the goddess of springtime and fecundity, with her bunny and birdy helpers.
So there you have it, the originators of today’s celebrations, in their different ethnic guises. Scholars of antiquities still debate the connections, but I rather like it all. Ishtar–Eostre–Easter. Fertility. Rebirth. The celebration is about as universal as it can be.
Pass the egg basket, please. Now, where did I hide that chocolate bunny?
