Monday, April 6, 2015
Unfinished Business
In various things come across in preparing my post on "Eostre" last week, I read some interesting things I haven't been able to look into, such as that the "Easter bunny" may have been developed out of the hare, believed in the medieval period to have been able to give birth without having sex, so a tie in with The Virgin Birth and, also, living underground they were seen as symbolic of Jesus rising living from the grave. I don't know if any of those or others are true, an animal is there before anyone turns it into any symbol and if someone doesn't know the intentions for it being put in a religious work of art, they can come up with their own interpretations of it. I have found little to nothing to back up the assertions that "The Xians stole it from rabbit worshiping pagans" line, which would seem to be a modern, perhaps even internet neo-atheist-era, as opposed to a medieval myth.
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I happen to have a book, The Bestiary of Christ, written by Louis Charbonneau-Lassay, a scholar of medieval history, published in 1946 (originally; mine is a later paperback in translation).
ReplyDeleteIt lists every animal associated with Christ and what symbolism it represented, from real animals to "fabulous beasts" such as unicorns, basilisks, dragons, and hippogriffs (which makes me want to rethink the beasts appearing in Harry Potter).
No rabbits. If it was even a long, lost medieval symbol, it would appear here.
I can't believe I have to add this, but the Easter Bunny has as much to do with Christianity as the Christmas tree or Easter eggs.
ReplyDeleteNothing whatsoever, in other words. Actually, the Xmas tree comes closer, it probably started as a stage feature of passion plays in Germany (the "Paradaisbaum", representing the tree from the Garden of Eden). But Easter eggs and bunnies? Never seen those mentioned in a Christian service, never seen anybody try to put eggs with Christian symbols on them inside a church (the "Chrismon Tree" still enjoys some vogue in some worship spaces in December).
The idea that Christians stole bunnies from pagans for Easter is simply ludicrous. I suppose they stole Easter bonnets, too; and chocolate.
I thought Irving Berlin invented Easter bonnets.
ReplyDeleteNever thought I'd be a Grinch about Easter but I'd love to see it go back to a religious holiday even more than Christmas.
I've decided I'm going to learn to sing the Exultet before next year. It's not musically difficult, the range is quite narrow, but putting the words and notes together to make them mean something is a real challenge. I'm glad they put it in the modern Easter Vigil liturgy and that they took of the putrid political addition of the prayer for the Holy Roman Emperor that got stuck onto it. For anyone who claims that the Vatican ran politics in Catholic countries, that's proof that the coercion and control ran the other way. The Holy Roman Emperor inserting HIMSELF! into the most sacred liturgy of the year.