Why does the easter bunny hide eggs? Spring fever week is raising a lot of questions…
Hello world, spring is here! This week (March 8th to March 12th) is spring fever week, and yes: it’s getting hot in here! This month we’re also moving the clock forward by an hour, during the night of March 27th and March 28th, causing the days to become longer again. But why do we really move the clock? Why do we plant so many violets in spring and why do we paint eggs (dropped by the easter bunny?!)? Calm down, I figured it all out. Let’s start at the beginning.
Long, long ago…
… The Romans changed their daily routine according to the amount of daylight hours in a day. Think TIK-TAK: the day started at sunrise and ended at sunset. Fast forward to 1784: Benjamin Franklin published his satirical article “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” in a French newspaper, where he proposed that all French wake up earlier to fully utilize daylight and to waste less candles!
The invention of summertime is actually credited to entomologist George Hudson, and there’s really no deeper meaning behind it: he just wanted some extra daylight to go bug hunting after work hours. Don’t believe me? Hudson wasn’t the only one! Builder William Willett was also a major advocate of summertime. The reason: he didn’t like having to quit golfing at sunset.
TIP: Not feeling less sleepytime? Channel you inner Hudson and Willett and think about the possibilities of an extra hour of daylight! Strolls along Noordkasteel, a late night picknick at the docks or just a cosy evening out on the terrace, …
A tragic love story
There’s more than enough reasons to celebrate spring: the days are getting longer, the days are getting hotter, delicious seasonal fruit and veggies, nature comes back to life, … The start of spring is a great excuse for a party, which they already knew in ancient Rome! The Romans used to tell the legend f the goddess Cybele, who fell head over heels for a mortal man named Attis. He, however, wasn’t interested in Cybele at all. Instead, Attis asked another girl to marry him. Cybele was so jealous that she drove Attis insane. So insane, that the man castrated himself and ended his life. De Romans believed that from the blood of Attis’ body, the first violets grew. The Goddess Cybele was so grief-stricken that she asked Zeus to help bring Attis back to life. Every year during the spring equinox, the Romans partied for three days to celebrate Attis’ resurrection. Gotta love spring, am I right?
TIP: Get inspired by the story of Cybele and Attis and plant some violets at home! There are more than 400 different kinds, they come in every colour you can imagine, they’re super easy to take care of (coming from a person who manages to kill cacti) and you can plant them both indoors as well as outside. Did you know you can even eat violets?
© Lola Flora Blog
Persian New Year
Most of us may celebrate the new year on the first of January, but that’s most certainly not the case in all cultures. Take Persian New Year (Nowruz), which has been celebrated on the first day of spring for over 3000 years. Nowruz means good food and all kinds of rituals, like Chahar Shanbe Suri: during the last Wednesday of the year, people gather around campfires and then hop over them. You read that right! According to this tradition; the flames will burn away all negativity from the past year, leaving you with a clean slate to start the new year.
TIP: Jumping over a bonfire is dangerous! Alternatively, you can write all negative experiences from the past year (think: exams) on paper and then burn the notes in a campfire. Would you rather stick to the tradition of Nowruz? Recite the following sentence while keeping a safe distance from the fire: Zardie man az to, sorkhie to az man (May my sickly pallor be yours and your red glow be mine). Poof! Exams are over, time for spring.
Why the easter bunny lays eggs
As a kid, every year I asked myself – and my parents – the same question: why would a bunny hide eggs? Not that I felt unhappy about the yearly chocolate overdose I found in my back yard, but still. To explain this weird phenomenon, we have to go back to the time of the Saxons. They believed in the goddess Eostre (based on the Germanic goddess Ostara), who found an injured bird on a cold winter day. To save the bird, she transformed the animal into a hare. The transformation went wrong though, causing the bird to look like a hare but leaving its capability to lay eggs. To thank the goddess, the hare-bird painted its eggs and left them as gifts for Eostre. And that is why the easter bunny lays eggs.
TIP: Spruce up your dorm with an easter tree! At the start of spring there’s plenty of stores that sell easter branches, or maybe you can find some branches on your daily hike. Put the branches in a pretty vase and decorate them with painted eggs. A Christmas tree, but for spring!
As a kid, every year I asked myself – and my parents – the same question: why would a bunny hide eggs? Not that I felt unhappy about the yearly chocolate overdose I found in my back yard, but still. To explain this weird phenomenon, we have to go back to the time of the Saxons. They believed in the goddess Eostre (based on the Germanic goddess Ostara), who found an injured bird on a cold winter day. To save the bird, she transformed the animal into a hare. The transformation went wrong though, causing the bird to look like a hare but leaving its capability to lay eggs. To thank the goddess, the hare-bird painted its eggs and left them as gifts for Eostre. And that is why the easter bunny lays eggs.
TIP: Spruce up your dorm with an easter tree! At the start of spring there’s plenty of stores that sell easter branches, or maybe you can find some branches on your daily hike. Put the branches in a pretty vase and decorate them with painted eggs. A Christmas tree, but for spring!
