The History And Evolution Of The Easter Basket

Easter is a convergence of three traditions. 1) Pagan. According to the Venerable Bede, English historian of the early 8th century, the word is derived from the Norse Ostara or Eostre, meaning the festival of spring at the vernal equinox, March 21, when nature is in resurrection after winter. Hence, the rabbits, notable for their fecundity, and the eggs colored like rays of the returning sun and the northern lights or aurora borealis. 2) Hebrew. In Exodus XII we read of the night in Egypt when the angel if death “passed over “the dwellings of the Israelites, so sparing their first born. Hence, the Passover or Jewish Pesach, celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew year. 3) Christian. It was at the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem that Jesus, a Jew, was crucified and rose from the dead. A name for Easter, therefore, is Pasch, in various spellings, and churches throughout the East and West celebrate Easter as a major feast ranking with Christmas, witness “the hot cross bun” or boon distributed among the faithful.

Spring or the Vernal equinox was an important time to ancient cultures, being dependent on their crops and livestock to live. They prayed to different Gods in hopes that their lands would be fertile. The Spring Equinox is when day and night become equal and that meant that the long winter was over and that spring and rebirth had arrived. A connection to Easter for these ancient religions is that the date is based upon astrologic signs. Easter occurs on the Sunday after the first full moon following Spring Equinox. This first moon was a sign to the farmers to plant their first seeds of the season.
Easter baskets grew out of the Christian observance of Lent, giving up meat, eggs and dairy. The custom of having a large Easter supper represents the end of the Lenten fast. In more ancient times, this feast was brought to the church in large baskets to be blessed by the Clergy. Hence the connection to Easter Baskets today. It is interesting to note that the Jewish tradition of Purim which takes place at this time of year, is also celebrated with the giving of food baskets, and has Queen Esther as the heroine of the Purim story. In the 1700s German children in North America would leave their caps and bonnets filled with straw outside overnight and find colored hard cooked eggs tucked inside in the morning. By the 1800s candy was commonly included in the baskets. Along with the renewal of the earth the idea of birth and rebirth, the egg became a symbol in the Christian Easter celebration and is still used today. Eggs were painted and decorated and given as gifts. As technology improved there were hollow eggs crafted from cardboard and were filled with smaller gifts.

Our Easter baskets have taken many of the traditions of the past, eggs, chicks, rabbits and grass, which all had symbolic meaning and created the colorful gifts for young and old that we have today. These baskets can be bought ready made or created at home. Easter Baskets have been made and given mainly to children in the past, but we are all still children at heart, and who would not love to receive their very own basket of goodies.? If it was filled with candies and fresh baked cookies it might even be shared! If you have someone special on your list that would like something more personal, a basket filled with toiletries and gifts with a few pastel covered chocolate eggs scattered around might be just what the Easter Bunny had in mind.

By: Kristina Keffer

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