It turns out that the Easter Bunny doesn’t have a monopoly on the Easter-Egg delivery market…
Easter Sunday commemorates the day on which Jesus Christ rose from the dead after being crucified for blasphemy. This is a double day of rejoicing for Christians for there is not only the resurrection of Christ to celebrate, but also the end of the 40-day Lenten fast. This time also coincides with the beginning of spring, which brings with it its own manifestations of renewal and rebirth that are so fundamental to the Christian Easter celebrations. There is a huge range of special foods associated with the Easter but, rather unsurprisingly, one of the most loved is the chocolate Easter Egg.
The traditions around Easter Eggs go back thousands of years. Throughout history, peoples all over the world have given eggs during spring festivals in order to mark the change of seasons, and the tradition goes back long before Christians adopted it. As with spring, eggs are powerful symbols of rebirth and renewal and were gifted for this reason. This practice was adopted by the Church and it wasn’t long before the Easter Egg became an iconic symbol of Easter in the West, though these were not yet the chocolate eggs we know and love today. For a long time, the eggs given would have been hard-boiled eggs that were painted or decorated in beautiful colours that added to the sense of occasion.
Somehow along the way though, things got a little bit peculiar. In America, the Easter Bunny appeared around about the 18th century most likely arriving on those shores with German immigrants. The Easter Bunny would go to children’s homes and either leave eggs behind or, rather mischievously, take the eggs that were already in the house and hide them so the children would have to hunt them down on Easter Sunday. The original Easter Bunny often had the same clipboard as Santa Claus, with two columns defining whether the children had been “naughty or nice”. However, that seems to be less the case now, and he just shows up with armfuls of eggs before dashing off to the next house.
And if you think he sounds strange, well, the French would like to have a word with you. The Easter Bunny doesn’t travel much to France, except for a small part on the northeastern border, close to Germany. Instead, the French have flying bells. To be honest, we were afraid to look into the origins of this one, but can tell you that on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, all the church bells in France go silent and will not ring again until Sunday. Well, they’re not really being “silent”, they’re probably making a huge racket as they fly, suitcase in hand, to Rome. It’s just that no one in France can hear them anymore.
While “in Rome”, the Flying Bells go to the market, obviously, and load up on chocolate before making they way back to France. And as they do, they drop their chocolatey treats at the houses of children along their path. Deliveries made, the exhausted bells can curl up in their belfries ready to ring in Easter the next morning. And then when the children hear the bells ringing, they run outside to hint down the goodies that the Easter Bells have hidden for them.
We don’t have flying bells or an Easter Bunny at Khéma. But we DO have an awful lot of utterly delicious, beautifully prepared Easter Eggs for you and your children to enjoy. Drop by to see the range, and find out whether you prefer the Bunny or the Bell.