Happy Easter!

This might be the first time I’ve ever woken up to a house without candy in it twenty-four hours post-Easter Sunday. Partaking in the Easter candy clearance this year is also a likely no go seeing as most stores didn’t bother stocking up for obvious reasons. I rarely find any Snickers eggs left hanging around anyway so I can deal.

The leftovers are a genuine loss. Mom takes her cooking very seriously and is ready to feed an army that wasn’t invited. And so, my fridge is delightfully padded with a plethora of savory and sweet treats. I don’t have to cook for the better part of a week. Sigh.

So why is it that we get a springtime feast dipped and smothered in chocolate? If you read or watched American Gods, you got a pretty good summation by Neil Gaiman and personification of the holiday in the form of Kristin Chenoweth. For those who haven’t read or seen American Gods, I highly recommend adding that to your list. They are treats.

But that wasn’t where I was going. American Gods uses Easter to point out the amalgamation of the holiday. This, like Halloween, is a holiday where Paganism and Christianity intertwined to form the basis for the day we know today as Easter. On the one hand, there is Eostre, goddess of fertility and spring, on the other is Jesus’ resurrection. Both laying the foundation of the theme of rebirth for the day.

Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny both split time between the Pagan and Christian sides of the aisle. I mean, it’s not hard to see both eggs and bunnies being associated with fertility and birth after all. After all of the transformations they have gone through, they can both be viewed as modern institutions in the holiday’s repertoire.

I highly doubt the eggs received by children in the Middle Ages resemble anything close to the eggs kiddos get these days. Those Medieval kiddos went searching for eggs the day before Lent, not on the feast day itself. But the idea of a child-sized hunt was born all the same. Funny what sticks and what doesn’t.

For those of us who didn’t grow up in a Greek or Russian Orthodox household, Easter eggs were dyed initially exclusively red. Beets were abundant, and they gave the eggs a blood-red hue. The red became a symbol of the blood of Christ.

I can see now why there was a shift to robin’s egg blue and pastel pink. A reduction in gruesome explanations around the dinner table.

As to the rise of chocolate eggs, well, we can thank Cadbury for that and the Victorians. People have been chomping down on Cadbury eggs since 1875. They quickly became all the rage. I don’t think anyone is surprised by this. But the real boom came in 1905 with the introduction of Cadbury’s dairy milk chocolate. And the rest is history.

Now to that rascally rabbit.

I was always really confused by Cadbury’s use of a clucking rabbit that laid eggs. Funny, sure, but absurd. Well, in preparation for this article, I proved my childhood observations quite ignorant. Cadbury’s bunny is a take on the German Osterhase. Hase meaning rabbit and Oster a likely reference to Ostara, the Norse equivalent of Eostre. (Hey, if Grimm backed it up, I’m willing to believe it.)

The Osterhase was a hare that hopped around, bringing eggs to all of the good boys and girls. Yes, once upon a time, the Easter Bunny had to keep a naughty and nice list. I wonder, did Santa hand off his list before going on vacation, or did he and the Easter Bunny just share a secretary?

As cute as the Easter Bunny is, not everyone is so smitten. There are plenty of alternatives out there. Easter bells deliver goodies in the French tradition. You won’t hear any Church bells peel between Good Friday and Easter in France. They’re busy. All of the Church bells sprout wings to deliver eggs to all of the good children on Easter.

A clucking rabbit is starting to make more sense to me.

In Australia, rabbits are pests, not adorable pets. Sorry bun. The Easter Bunny was replaced by the Easter Bilby in 1968. If you’re like me, you’re asking yourself what is a bilby. It’s a marsupial native to the continent down under and looks surprisingly like a rabbit. This switch also has a conservation spin to it as it spurred a movement to save the animals from going extinct.

Those are just two of my favorite alternatives. Switzerland opts for the sensical Easter Cockoo while the Easter Fox visits some parts of Germany for egg delivery. And so on and so on.

It looks like the Easter Bunny got a better deal than Santa. He can delegate deliveries to a plethora of alternatives. I guess that’s why Santa has a high powered sleigh.

Alright, Nerd Girls, this is where I leave you. Hopefully, you all have some Easter treats hanging around the house to give you a boost. Stay healthy and safe!