Calling All You Bunnies!

Our columnist Miss Carrot has dictated her early Easter message to Nika Jazaee.

Miss Carrot cropped

Easter is not solely a Christian festival – as some may erroneously believe. It’s partly pagan, I’m telling ya (I’m told this is how people speak ‘on the street’).

In fact most of the fun things we are accustomed to during Easter, have their origins outside Christianity.

For instance, did you know that the Easter bunny is a representation of the goddess of Spring, Eostre?

Or that Easter eggs are an ancient symbol celebrated in many different cultures before Jesus came on the scene?

Nika Carrots resized easter 1
Miss Carrot nails it for Good Friday.

More widely known as Spring Equinox, ‘Easter’ is an important, seasonal celebration in many religions. It’s all about welcoming the Spring. After Winter aka the dead season, the Earth gets born again when Spring is sprung.

So the resurrection of Jesus is also the re-birth of the Earth, newly warmed by the Sun, and, as such, it was celebrated for thousands of years before Christianity even existed (yes, there was a time before Christianity).

In view of the ancient tradition of re-birthing the Earth, letting Jesus grab all the attention at Easter appears to indulge Christianity in its incipient selfishness – and we wouldn’t want any selfishness in Holy Week, would we?

Some parts of the world still mark these seasonal festivities as Norooz (New Day), a celebration of Sun, Moon and Spring going back four and a half millennia.

Maybe we should all try the Norooz version next year – that way we won’t have to give up anything for Lent.

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