By SELENA ESTRADA
Student Reporter
As Easter is right around the corner, this coming Sunday, many might wonder where this celebration and all of its traditions came from.
For Christians, Easter is a day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and also the end of Lent season. For many, this is a time to celebrate spring with all the known traditions of the Easter bunny, candy and Easter eggs.
The first celebration of the Easter holiday was recorded back in the second century. Early Christians adopted Easter from the pagan festival that celebrates the ancient goddess of Spring and fertility, named Eostre. This goddess was associated with a hare, which is probably the reason that bunnies have become associated with this holiday. This, however, could just be a coincidence, and the Easter bunny might have originated elsewhere.
The bunny is an ancient symbol for life and fertility, which is associated with spring and Easter. German immigrants had a tradition of “Osterhas,” which was when hares laid brightly colored eggs and children would make nests for them. This tradition was brought to America in the 1700s by the German immigrants. However, now these nests have been replaced by colorful, decorated baskets for children.
One of the most common Easter traditions is decorating eggs. This tradition has been since the thirteenth century. For Christians, eggs were banned during lent season, and people would decorate them and eat them on Easter to celebrate the end of the Lent season. The egg was a symbol of new life, which could also be a reason for the egg tradition. Also, many people in the high society would give jeweled encrusted eggs to one another as gifts on Easter.
Another famous tradition is all the candy that is used on easter. Except for Halloween. Easter is the holiday where Americans buy the most candy. Some of the most famous Easter candies are the chocolate eggs, jelly beans and the marshmallow peeps. The chocolate egg has been around since the early nineteenth century Europe. Jelly beans started being associated with Easter a little later in the 1930s, mainly because they looked like eggs. The marshmallow peeps began selling in the 1950s and used to be handmade.
So now that you have more of an awareness of Easter, you will be better prepared to celebrate on Sunday.