Easter: for Christians it is the commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ, from which the egg symbolizes the regeneration of life; for non-believers or otherwise believers, however, the egg remains as a symbol of the rebirth of life in Spring and if the egg is chocolate for children and all gourmands is also a sweet party!
A tender bunny is often associated with the egg and for those of us at the Studio d’Arte Gentile Polo, at least once in our lives curiosity has been placed on the origin of this curiosity (if nothing else, the eggs do not make them rabbits) here are some interesting information about it.
The tradition of Easter rabbits seems to descend from the German-speaking Nordic countries: the Easter rabbit was called Osterhase and, near Easter, the families attract the pet with a nice nest or a homemade basket. The so attracted bunny judges the behavior of the children and to those who have proved themselves good dona colored eggs.
The Osterhase would have originated from the Saxon Eostre an ancient Saxon deity associated with flowers and spring which was celebrated at the Equinox.
According to Bede the Bard in the treatise De temporum ratione (725 DC) Eostre deriving its name from the term aus / aes which means East, where the sun is born, for this Eostre is a goddess of fertility and rebirth. From Eostre also derives the Celtic term Eostur-Monath, that is the spring equinox and then Ostara. The link between Eostre and spring is confirmed by the German word Oster (Easter) and the English Easter, which contains both the meaning of Easter and Spring.
For the celebration of the goddess it was customary to decorate eggs, before snake then came into use those of hen, which were donated as a symbol of fertility.
The celebration of the goddess took place during the first full moon after the spring equinox according to the same calculation used later by Christians to calculate Easter, and its symbol animal would have been a hare.
In the Leviticus the rabbit is referred to as impure and because of this for a long time it was curiously believed that the females could give life to the children by parthenogenesis, ie without their eggs being fertilized by the males. This belief led them in the Middle Ages to be seen as symbols of purity and chastity, so as to be approached to the Virgin Mary: an example is “The Virgin and Child with Saint Catherine and shepherd” (Louvre, 1520-1530, 71 x 87 cm) by Tiziano also known as “Madonna del Coniglio” due to the white rabbit depicted while the Madonna holds it gently.
Hoping then that this little research you enjoyed, and maybe intrigued you so much to further investigate some of your further curiosity, you will come from the Studio d’Arte Gentile Polo all a warm wish for a Serena and Sweet Easter!
(Lucia Martorelli – Gentile Polo Art Studio)
