The most potent of religious icons is the cross with the figure of Jesus, nailed and hanging, suspended ever in our psyche as the one who saved us from damnation. And for that, yes, I am eternally grateful. Because of that most potent of religious icons, Easter is the most holy of feast days in the Catholic liturgy. And if the cross is the symbol of our salvation, Easter is a sign we can overcome sin.
Unlike other feast days and holidays, Easter acknowledges the world in which we live, how it moves through our universe and our relationship to the sun, although you could just as easily say the Son! In order to determine Easter Sunday, you need to know when the earth turns so that our star, the sun, moves across the vernal equinox heading for summer solstice, when we leave the bareness of winter and move into the spring of renewal. Using the Paschal Full Moon, which actually comes from our Hebrew roots, or Passover, and the 14th day of the lunar month, rather than a real astronomical event, Easter, in the western churches, arrives anytime between March 22 and April 25.
On the religious side the symbols and signs are quite clear and straightforward. You sin, you can be redeemed . Outside religious events, there are what I think of as mascots. A baby boy for New Year’s Day, Cupid for Valentines, Leprechauns for St. Paddy’s Day, Santa Claus for Christmas. And they all relate to the day. But.
The Easter Bunny has always been a particular problem for me, mainly because he delivers eggs. As a kid, I never really thought that bunnies and chicks went together. I mean, chickens roam around, pecking at the ground, peeping and squawking inside an enclosure that even earned the name chicken wire. Whereas bunnies, or rabbits [and there’s a dilemma, are they the same or are they different? OMG, then there are hares!] sit in cages or behind rock walls or underground hidden by shrubbery, drop little black pellets and really don’t say much. So how did they come together? I get that bunnies are the quintessential sign of fertility. Spring=renewal and what better way to convey that than fertility, ergo, bunnies. Eggs hold life. So.
Even though these are pagan symbols, the bunny and the egg, they bring together the most holy of beliefs that this season, Easter, on the first Sunday after the 14th day of the lunar month when the sun crosses the equinox on it’s way to the equator, is a celebration of renewal and life. Hallelujah!