ALT-2 Easter Baskets
An estimated 90% of American children wake up to some form of the gift-filled Easter basket on Easter morning. The business of chocolate Easter bunnies, plastic eggs and jelly beans is a lucrative one around this time of year. Roughly 90 million chocolate bunnies and a jaw dropping 16 billion jelly beans will make their way to Easter baskets all over the country on Easter morning. So where did this custom come from?
Spring has always been viewed as a time of new life and renewal. The name ‘Easter’ comes from the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon goddess, Eostre (sometimes spelled Oestre). Eostre, the goddess of fertility, was often portrayed as carrying a basket full of eggs in the spring to represent fertility and new life. The eggs were often colored and decorated, blessed and then eaten at spring festivals. It was also customary to bring the goddess a basket of early seedlings for blessing to increase the chances of a good harvest. Since rabbits and hares reproduce frequently and with multiple births, pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons believed that rabbits were the earthly representation of Eostre and they too became symbols of fertility. When Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity, their springtime rituals were combined with the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and given the name Easter.
It became a Catholic tradition for families to bring food to Easter mass in a basket to be blessed for Easter dinner. Later the children would use these baskets to look for hidden Easter eggs.
Most experts agree that the legend of the Easter Bunny came to the U.S. with German settlers in the 1800s. German folklore held that a white hare (the Easter Hare) would leave Easter baskets filled with candy, brightly colored eggs and other treasures for children on Easter morning.
With the television movie “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” the popularity of the Easter basket grew tremendously. Today many people who do not celebrate the Christian holiday of Easter give and receive Easter baskets. There is a wide variety of Easter baskets decorated in any way you could imagine available or you can even choose to decorate your own. Easter baskets are a fun tradition for kids – and adults- of all ages.
Resources:
Origins of Easter. Happy Easter from Aristotle.http://home.aristotle.net/easter/origins/
Easter Day. Easter Basket History.http://www.dgreetings.com/easter/easter-basket-history.html
Wyrdology. Easter Baskets: The history of Easter baskets.http://www.wyrdology.com/festivals/easter/basket.html
Wikipedia – Easter Bunny.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny
Easter Baskets – Origins and Gift Ideas.http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Easter-Baskets-Origin-and-Gift-Ideas/792104
Victor Epand. Easter Basket Traditions and History. http://ezinearticles.com/?Easter-Basket-Traditions-and-History&id=836008
