Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easter

Why Easter Eggs?  I am very familiar with our Christian views and the fun Easter egg hunts shared with the children, but I wondered what I would find if I went on a web search. Here's some of what I found:

Evidently Anglo-Saxon legend tells how the Saxon goddess Eostre found a wounded bird and transformed it into a hare, so that it could survive the Winter. The hare found it could lay eggs, so it decorated these each Spring and left them as offering to the goddess.

From www.englatheod.org/eostre.htm:

"Eostre is a very obscure Goddess, and uniquely Anglo-Saxon Pagan. She is not mentioned at all in the Norse corpus and only fleetingly in the Old English by Bede in De Temporum Rationale.  Her material is so scant that some scholars have speculated she was not a Goddess at all, but that Eostre was merely a name for the holiday. Her name is connected for words for "east" and "shining."

Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology maintained that "Ostara, Eástre, was goddess of the growing light of spring."  The date of the holy tide would make this a reasonable conclusion. Holy water in the form of the dew or water collected from brooks was gathered at this time. Washing with it was said to restore youth. Beautiful maidens in sheer white were said to seen frolicking in the country side. Also according to Grimm, the white maiden of Osterrode, was said to appear with a large batch of keys at her belt, and stride to the brook to collect water on Easter morning.  Cross buns were of course baked and eaten.  While this could be a Christian addition, that cakes were often use in Heathen rites is apparent in any survey of the lore. And the cross may be symbolic of the rune Gebo or the buns may represent the sun wheel.  Easter eggs seem to go fairly far back in both English and continental celebrations, and of course symbolize the beginning of new life. The hare also known for its fertility appears fairly early in Easter celebrations."

Have a lovely holiday!

Friday, April 1, 2011

April Pleasures

Let's lure Springtime from her hidy-hole, shall we?  This is walking attire from April, 1807....

Now this dress is from the Spring of 1894. She's ready for our chilly temps now as well....perhaps spring has always been this cold?
Either of these delights would do well with our current sprinkling of snow...how I wish it was an April Fool's prank! Alas...Mother Nature is the only one teasing around here.

If I could wave a magic wand, April first would look like this...

And I would choose one of these lovely frocks...
to wear on my way to tea.
Courtesy of Little Sooti .  http://littlesooti.blogspot.com/   What a lovely blog!
And to top it all off, perfectly practical sandals to tiptoe through the tulips.... ;)
 
 So.... how are you welcoming April?