Easter is a time of many festivals celebrating Spring. In Christian countries, Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But the origins of Easter and some of its traditions are actually pagan in origin.

Some scholars, such as 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, believe that the word Easter comes from the Scandinavian "Ostra" and the Saxon "Eostre". Both are Goddesses of mythology signifying spring and fertility, and their festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox.

These festivals celebrating spring, re-birth, and fertility involved rituals and symbols of eggs, chicks, and rabbits. When the Saxons converted to Christianity and began celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ, it coincided with Eostre, so that's what the early church called its celebration, Eostre, or Easter, in modern English.

Easter is celebrated by the churches of the West on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or following March 21, the spring equinox. For Christians, Easter falls at the end of the Lenten season, which is forty days long. The Lenten season is a period of penitence in preparation for the highest festival of the church year, Easter.

The Easter Egg, in pagan times, represented fertility and re-birth. The exchange or brightly-colored eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians. As a part of the Christian Easter, the egg came to represent the resurrection or re-birth of Christ after his crucifixion. Today, children hunt for colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets, along with the modern version of real Easter eggs - those made of plastic or chocolate.

Around the early 1800's, the first chocolate Easter egg appeared in Germany and France, and soon spread to Europe and beyond. The first chocolate eggs were solid, soon followed by hollow eggs. Although making hollow eggs at that time was no mean feat, because the easily worked chocolate we use today didn't exist then. They had to use a paste made from ground roasted Cacao beans.

By the turn of the 19th century, the discovery of the modern chocolate making process and improved mass manufacturing methods meant that the Chocolate Easter Egg was fast becoming the Easter Gift of choice in the UK and parts of Europe, and by the 1960's, it was well established worldwide.

The Easter Bunny, like the Easter Egg, also has its origins in pagan times. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eostre. The goddess Eostre was worshipped by the Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit or the hare.

During the springtime pagan fertility festivals, it was believed that at this time of year, when day and night were of equal length, that male and female energies were also in balance. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg and the hare together represent the god and the goddess, respectively.

Moving forward fifteen hundred years, we find ourselves in Germany, where children await the arrival of Oschter Haws, a rabbit who will lay colored eggs in nests to the delight of children who discover them Easter morning. It was this German tradition that popularized the 'Easter bunny' in America, when introduced into the American cultural fabric by German settlers in Pennsylvania.

Here at L.A. Burdick Chocolate, we celebrate Easter and the arrival of spring with our delicious Easter chocolate and Easter candy. For the Easter holiday, we create special chocolate eggs, which, when broken open, are filled with approximately 15 assorted truffles. We bake a delicious Easter bread, made with hints of dried-fruit, cardamon and vanilla. We offer our whimsical chocolate bunnies, which are white chocolate with a dark chocolate and hazelnut ganache and almond ears. Our chocolate bunnies are always a delight, particularly during this time of year!

Easter Sunday - April 12, 2009
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