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Easter Traditions

Posted on 8th February 2017

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Easter is always a happy time of year. The spring has begun and we celebrate with chocolate, Easter egg hunts or maybe by going to church. But where did all these traditions come from? Jesus didn't have chocolate at the Last Supper so why do we have so much around this holiday?

Easter eggs have been around longer than Jesus as they were always considered special. However we eat them specifically at Easter to symbolise new life, for Christians it represents Jesus' resurrection as they crack into an empty tomb - just like we break into hollow Easter eggs.

One way we celebrate with these eggs is by having a hunt, which was part of a traditional pagan spring festival. This was then commercialized by companies such as Cadbury’s to try and promote their Easter eggs.

Rabbits are commonly associated with Easter, such as the Easter Bunny, it was believed that Eostre, the Goddess of spring, had a hare as her companion. It showed fertility and rebirth, which is something widely celebrated in spring.

Another brilliant celebration of the beginning of Easter is Pancake Day. Pancake Day was a way of using up all the fatty ingredients in the house before Lent started and they could no longer eat like that. This links into why we have chocolate on Easter Sunday, since it is traditional for Lent to be a time of sacrifice when it’s over it seems only right to splurge on luxuries like chocolate.

Julia Kearns (Studing A Levels in Economics, English Language and Philosophy & Ethics)