For Easter Cards, posters and home decorating,
Easter symbols are bright and beautiful and rich
with spiritual tradition. Children can paint them
onto windows using plain old tempera paint -- it
washes off well and is what many stores use for
their window decor. (a couple drops of Joy or such
after it's mixed in a cup will really help it come
off well later.) Here is the background of a few as
I've heard it.
Lamb:
The Jews used to sacrifice a lamb during Passover.
Jesus died for our sins during Passover season, so
He was our "Lamb"--we never need to sacrifice an
animal again! Also, just days before He died, He
called all who listen to Him His sheep.
Colored Eggs and chicks:
Chicks newly-hatched from eggs represent life where
none seeming existed before -- like Jesus coming
from the tomb! There is an old legend that speaks to
colored eggs. The story goes that when Jesus fell
carrying the cross on His way to Calvary, a man
stepped forward and lovingly helped Jesus when He
stumbled and fell. The man was Simon of Cyrene. When
Simon returned home to tend his chores, he found
that all the eggs the hens had laid were colored
with many different colors. Coloring eggs for Easter
probably came from the fasts done preceding Easter
(Lent) in eastern Europe. The faithful would not eat
certain foods, like meat, dairy products, or eggs --
a way of going without like Christ in the desert
(still common in Orthodox churches today.) In rural
areas, that means the eggs really piled up! So they
were painted and colored and used ornamentally on
Easter to represent joy, festivity, celebration of
new life.
Easter Basket:
The baskets with colored eggs comes as a
continuation of the egg-painting done in the old
world. When Easter Sunday came, the faithful would
take their Easter feast food (very symbolic--like
bread for the Bread of Life, butter shaped like a
lamb etc.) and the eggs they had painted to church
to be blessed. It was taken in, of course, a basket!
And remember that the symbolism goes further--to
Moses, who led God's people to freedom...and lived
to do so because he was saved as a baby by being
hidden away in a basket.
Easter Lily:
A strongly-scented flower that "trumpets" the new
life of spring from barren cold ground...as we are
to sweetly trumpet the good news that arose from a
cold, barren tomb.
Easter bunny:
This is our family's conjecture: rabbits multiply
and multiply, are sweet and gentle, are God's
creatures. So as Christians we are to multiply our
number by spreading the good news, be peaceful and
loving, and know that we are completely God's
creatures. As to the Easter Bunny: probably arrived
in our culture like the current secularized Santa
and the tooth fairy.
Hot cross buns:
Small, sweet raisin biscuits with Jesus' cross on top
made of frosting were made by a monk in old England
as an Easter gift for the poor. He encountered some
pride at being given 'charity', so he sold them for
just a penny or less and put the money in the poor
box at the church.
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