MARCH CHAPLAIN’S CORNER

MARCH CHAPLAIN’S CORNER

Lent, which began on February 13 this year, continues throughout most of March, culminating on Maundy Thursday, March 28. Therefore, Good Friday is March 29 and Easter Sunday is March 31. I have given a good deal of thought this year concerning a possible conversation with my seven-year old granddaughter about Easter. Most of my ruminations are about how to explain and harmonize the two very different Easter traditions: the Easter Bunny and his basketful of eggs, and the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. You might have attempted the same task yourself. If you haven’t been as successful as you might like, or if you haven’t been up to so daunting a task, tag along with me as I first review the history of the two traditions, along with their uneasy synthesis. Consequently, I will attempt to make new sense of the Easter elements, not just for seven year olds, but even more so for those of us who have sought a comprehension that has heretofore eluded us.

Many ancient cultures celebrated the coming of spring, and it is generally thought that Easter got its name from the Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess Eastre (also spelled Eostre, Ostare, Ostara and other variations). This connection was first mentioned by the Christian scholar Bede, who wrote in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after this goddess. She was the mother goddess of the Saxon people in northern Europe, and she represented spring and fertility, or the life that is reborn every spring after the cold winter. A festival was held each spring in her honor, and she was often shown in the company of a rabbit, which is an enduring symbol of fertility. Some accounts say that the Saxons revered rabbits as the goddess’ earthly incarnation.

Eggs have also been recognized as symbols of fertility and life. There are several myths about Eastre and her rabbits. According to one story, she transformed a pet bird into a rabbit to entertain children, and the rabbit proceeded to lay colored eggs that the goddess then gave to the kids. In another version, a small girl asked the goddess to save a bird. The goddess saved the bird by turning it into a rabbit, which produced colored eggs. Indeed, the tradition of an egg-giving rabbit started in Europe and was later brought to America by German settlers.

 The second tradition of Easter is well known to Christians and it is the most important date of the year to us. It is the morning of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This date lays the foundation for our eternal existence in God’s presence. Christians believe, according to Scripture, that Jesus came back to life, and that He was raised from the dead only three days after His brutal death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, His death by crucifixion is commemorated on Good Friday, always the Friday just before Easter. Therefore, through His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, purchasing for all who believe this, eternal life.

How do you harmonize these two traditions? Perhaps the same way that C.S. Lewis harmonized his fondness for Pagan Norse legends with his nascent Christianity. In Surprised by Joy, Lewis explained that although an atheist at the time, he came closer to developing more love and “adoration” for pagan Norse gods, “whom I disbelieved in, than I had ever done about the true God while I believed….I can almost think that I was sent back to false gods, there to acquire some capacity for worship….when the true God should recall me to Himself.” In the same way we too can develop an appreciation for rebirth in nature during springtime, and then develop a fondness for the symbols of that rebirth through the Easter bunny and his eggs.

On a deeper level the primitive symbols of the rabbit and the eggs can foreshadow our hope for our own rebirth. Indeed, the rabbit or hare has been a popular motif for Christians in other times. In ancient times it was widely believed that the hare could reproduce asexually, that is without loss of virginity, leading, of course, to an association with the Virgin Mary for medieval Christians. You may have noticed hares occurring in medieval paintings of the Virgin and Child. They may also have been associated with the Trinity as in the motif of the three hares forming a triangle or three interlocking shapes such as rings, thus symbolizing the Trinity. In England, this motif usually appears in a prominent place in the church, such as the central rib of the roof, or on a central rib of the nave inside the church.

If this rich symbolism nourished Christians in other ages, we should not shun this same enrichment today. Christians of today should seek the recapitulation of the Gospel in nature, in art, in folklore, and in every part of Creation, thereby seeking every form of nourishment of a spiritual thanksgiving for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and our own spiritual rebirth along with Him.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them

(in company with a bunny and a basketful of eggs).

 

 

 

  

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