regional customs
Easter customs: When the rabbit hops with eggs
An unwrapped chocolate bunny and colored eggs. Photo: Annette Riedl/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Risen from the dead – bring on the signs for life! The most well-known customs around Easter stand for exactly that. That’s how they evolved.
A rabbit bringing eggs. Sounds kind of weird, but it has tradition. How long he has been hopping through the gardens and what other customs Easter brings with it – here are a few facts:
eggs
Even in ancient times, the egg was considered a symbol of life. In Christianity, it developed into a sign of Jesus’ resurrection: it contains life within itself, just as the grave contains Christ, from which he rises.
The custom of giving away eggs at Easter has been around since the 16th century. Back then, eggs were taboo during Christian Lent, but the hens naturally continued to lay some. To preserve them, they were boiled and traditionally colored red. Red is considered the color of life, but also a sign of the blood of Christ. Today boiled Easter eggs shimmer in all colors. To decorate, raw eggs are blown out and then painted or otherwise artistically decorated.
hare
Closely associated with the Easter egg today, it has a similar meaning. The Romans already saw the rabbit as a sign of fertility because it breeds so quickly. In the Middle Ages, farmers customarily paid the dues for the land they tilled in kind. One of the dates regularly fell during the Easter season, for example on Maundy Thursday. Then hard-boiled eggs served as rent – but also rabbits. It is possible that this coincidence in time and the comparable symbolism led to the Easter bunny bringing the eggs being created as a figure.
It was already mentioned scientifically at the end of the 17th century. In the work “Of Easter Eggs” (“De ovis paschalibus”), published in 1682, it is stated that in southwest Germany, the Palatinate, Alsace and Westphalia such Easter eggs were called rabbit eggs. Tell simple people and little children that the Easter Bunny hatches them and hides them in the grass. This is roughly still the case today. However, it is now mainly chocolate eggs and other sweets that are hidden for the children in gardens and green spaces. From the Easter Bunny, of course.
Fire
With the Teutons, spring was greeted with a fire. It should drive away the dark season, witches and ghosts. The first Christian Easter fires were probably around 750 in France. They have been known in German-speaking countries since the 11th century.
Wood and twigs are collected and stacked over the winter for the Easter bonfire. As part of the Easter Vigil celebrations, it is lit in front of the church on the night from Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday, after which the Easter candle is lit and carried into the dark church. In many places in Germany, however, this Christian connection has receded into the background. People meet at the Easter fire, which is also often kindled on another Easter day, talk and drink or eat.