Springo Bingo 4:
(or make something else Springtimey to put on your head)
When you think about it, chocolate eggs, Jesus rising from the dead, simnel cake, bunnies, chicks, and bonnets – it’s a bit of a weird mishmash.
Like most modern interpretations of ancient religious festivals, you can pick out the bones and figure out how we ended up here.
The Jesus part – no argument.
It is the most important Christian festival of the year, where Jesus was said to have risen from the dead – 3 days after he was executed.
If you’re a believer, that’s a pretty big story by any standards.
It makes absolute sense to celebrate something like that.
But that other stuff… is all Pagan, and it’s a bit saucy, too.
Pagans have always celebrated the changing of the seasons, and this particular springtime change was called Ostara.
(Ostara/Easter – close enough, I’ll accept it.)
Two of the main pagan symbols of fertility were (and still are) the egg and the rabbit (for hopefully obvious reasons.)
Ostara was all about the excitement, birth, fertility, and rejuvenation.
Some reasonably compelling accounts tell of celebrations involving wild sex orgies.
Mucky pups.
Eostre
To add spice to the story – the goddess of Spring and dawn – was called Eostre (again – close enough).
Eostre was closely linked to the hare – another super-fertile and energetic procreator.
The story goes that one day, Eostre was entertaining some children.
She blew their little minds by turning a bird into a rabbit in front of their eyes.
And that rabbit could lay eggs.
Obviously.
To be fair, I’d be impressed.
(Honestly – I can’t believe I never questioned the biology of the Easter Bunny laying eggs as a child. Idiotic eureka moment, right there).
Pub Quiz Info: Ostara/Eostre/Oestre is so closely associated with fertility that we get the word ‘oestrogen’ from them.
So, there are all the pieces of the puzzle.
And here’s how they were stitched together.
Pope Gregory
Strap in for some 6th Century Theological History
(This is definitely the first time I’ve ever typed that sentence)
In 596 A.D., the serving Pope Gregory wanted to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, so he sent his missionaries to the British Isles.
He KNEW that the people were going to be resistant to the change.
So, very carefully, he took the existing Pagan festivals and piggy-backed them.
He created new Christian celebrations at the same times of the year as the old pagan ones, keeping the Pagan elements that people most liked and adding a Christian spin to them.
For example, the egg’s hard shell represented the hard stone tomb in which Jesus was placed.
Stuff like that.
It was quite genius P.R.
Then, just as deliberately, over time – the old, pagan parts were quietly dropped.
Today, we are left with this odd assortment of smorgasbord bits and pieces from Pagan festivals, traditions, Goddesses, and the Bible.
Of course, including rabbits laying eggs.
But what about the hats?
Women had to (and some still do) wear hats in Christian churches to signify modesty and submission. Men were prohibited from wearing them as it was a sign of disrespect to God. (Umm, I’m not getting involved).
Because Easter was and is the most special of all Christian festivals, women would wear their fanciest hats, maybe adding flowers and other decorations.
Fast-forward to now, and the meaning has been all but lost to time – most schools will have an ‘Easter Bonnet day/procession/competition/party’ for all children, regardless of gender, as a bit of fun.
For me – that’s good enough for me to get off my feminist high horse about it.
Here’s one I made about 10 years ago from a Coco Pops box to prove it.
Looking back, I’m not sure it was camp enough.
What do you reckon?
It’s what Eostre would have wanted.
Whether, as you read this Easter has already happened, or still to look forward to, it is a fun thing to do, to while away a holiday afternoon.