Sunday, March 23, 2008

You say Easter and I say...

I am a spiritual person. I do indeed believe in a higher power. And in my mind it's a very nice lady. Sorry but that is how I envision it. Actually, no. It's neither lady or man. It's just this amazing powerful energy that we all come from. We are little portals... little vestibules of that energy. Oh wait... I just looked up vestibule and it basically means “toilet...” so no, we are not little toilets (well, maybe SOME of us are) but we are little groovy jetson flying pods of amazing energy. No, I have not smoked anything this morning.

ANYWAY... I guess, I am trying to layout my religious beliefs and it makes me feel put on the spot, like I have to paint the picture and set it in stone. Actually, I like to allow it to shift and morph into whatever it WANTS to be. I don't have it painted into any corners of any kind.

So with that in mind, I have to say that I have always thought Easter was weird.

As a kid there were two parts to Easter. First of all was the whole Jesus on the cross thing. Seeing pictures of him, with blood and he's all skinny and sad and it's terrible, terrible. And then on the other hand (or perhaps I should say paw) is the delightful and adorable Easter BUNNY... prancing about and mischievously hiding candy for all the boys and girls to find.

But keep the peeps bunny...

Even as a kid, I knew that the connection to these two things was really strange. They really had nothing to do with each other and if Jesus is hanging up there in all his misery, why are we eating candy? Well, actually we are eating candy as he is rising from the dead... which still is kind of creepy.

Well, here or rather “hares” the truth on the Easter bunny... or what it “probably” is but come on, it makes perfect sense...

The origin of the Easter Bunny probably goes back to the festival's connection with the pagan goddess Eostre. Eostre (sometimes spelt Oestre) was a fertility goddess from whom we derive the word "oestrogen" and she is closely associated with fertility symbols such as eggs. The rabbit is known as a highly fertile creature and hence an obvious choice for Easter symbolism. (origin of this quote)



So the word Easter is derived from a goddess and has nothing to do with Jesus. It means “estrogen” (see I told you god is a woman!) How did this all happen? I am certain it had to do with some sort of competition between the two religions... christianity and paganism. And just like we have tv sweeps and the better story or better deal gets more attention, instead of competing with each other, the two “shows” combined to make one big holiday. And it's very strange.

Yes, I as a happy child was to search for chocolate but also know that Jesus is rising from the dead today too. And that of course, the whole resurrection thing can be interpreted with Eggs... rebirth... I have also read people suggesting that the empty easter egg represents the empty tomb... what? And besides, easter eggs aren't empty, they are filled with jelly beans!

In all honesty, as a tot, when I searched for candy and toys, I didn't think about Jesus at all, he was upstaged by cadbury eggs.

Basically, my stand point is that it is all very silly. Not the fact that Jesus died on the cross... but the fact that these two holidays are smooshed together and many of us just go along for the ride and have no idea what it represents historically. I have always been interested in how and why and what... BUT if Easter is also meant to be a symbol of SPRING... well, take one look out my window and it doesn't look like Spring or ANY rebirth is coming anytime soon. It looks like early February.

And one other thing, I always enjoy seeing the chocolate crosses intermixed with the bunnies at Walgreens. Seriously... a chocolate CROSS... yes, kids, now you can EAT it!!!! (also comes in white chocolate variety).