Not a Sonnet about your Easter Bonnet

© Copyright 2024 Fran Carey, All Rights Reserved.

The earliest Christian celebration of Easter is believed to be, per Encyclopaedia Britannica, in the 2nd Century CE. Pagans of various persuasions have celebrated the Spring Equinox for much, much longer than that. 1n 1933, Irving Berlin wrote the song Easter Parade, which is based on the Manhattan tradition, thought to date at least to the 1870s, of strolling down Fifth Avenue in new spring finery, especially, for the ladies, ornate bonnets covered in flowers and other symbols of the seasonal rebirth of green growing things.

Although many claim this isn't a pagan tradition, there is no denying it looks an awful lot like one! Many mainstream Easter traditions do. Per the Indy Star newspaper website, "Coloring Easter eggs dates back to the Christians of Mesopotamia, according to Chase Oaks Church. They were originally dyed red to represent the blood of Jesus Christ. Over time, the tradition spread to Orthodox churches, and eventually Catholic and Protestant." Today, we color them like a rainbow, often drawing on tulips, bunnies, and other signs of new growth. We tell that the Easter Bunny brings them, a hare which is a symbol of procreation and reproductive plenty, and which starts breeding in spring.

The very commercial celebration occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon after the Spring Equinox. There are temples and monuments around the world which are aligned to mark the solar passages, equinoxes and solstices. Many ancient religions had and have special celebrations for these events, as they denote shifts in the energies related to survival, such as hunting, planting, and, in some cases, migrations. Many of these included special clothing or decor. In India, Holi uses many of the colors of spring flowers as a tribute to the season. Nowruz in Central Asia includes bright costumes and celebrates living in harmony with nature.

Flowers are one of the most vibrant and definitive statements of the arrival of spring. We all look for those first buds, wild or domestic, peaking through the snow and soil, assuring us that the cold won't last forever and life will begin again, both in the literal sense and the metaphorical sense as we dig out of our winter clothing and blankets and start exploring the out of doors, strolling on the avenue, gardening, planning summer trips. Planning our migration to follow the herds.

The Manhattan Easter Parade still occurs, with more outrageous costumes than in Berlin's day, but still as a salute to the rebirth of the Sun God and Mother Earth, even if that isn't what most of the celebrants have in mind!

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