The Easter Goddess and her bunny

I have many memories of Easter with me and my sister standing in church for hours at the mid-night service. We must have looked adorable in our dresses, ribbons, and braided hair but the reality was my legs ached, my attention span was non-existent and I was tired, hungry and GRUMPY. I still get a little miffed when I think about it. Mum would say "just pray Ulyana!" and I would ponder "uhhh how???"

Regardless of the mixed emotions I have of this holiday, I still really enjoy the tradition of Easter. Our family would make coloured and decorated eggs, paska (Easter cheese cake), and kulich (Easter bread). These days I add raw chocolate making to the festivities...



Paska and eggs

 


Kulich made by my very talented sister Anastasia...


The Easter Goddess...
Easter was named after the Norse spring goddess Eostre or Ostara and actually predates the Christian holiday we now celebrate. It has pagan, Earth based origins and was a celebration of the Spring Equinox, in the Northern Hemisphere around the 20th and 21st and in the Southern around the 23rd of September. It is dated the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. To this day many Wiccans still celebrate the Ostara sabbath.

Ostara is a goddess of the spring and the rising sun, dawn and her name derives from words the shining light arising from the east. The word estrogen, the female hormone, derives from her name. She was a fertility goddess, bringing longer, brighter days after the vernal equinox and the rabbit was her sacred animal.

Other goddesses celebrated at spring are Hathor (ancient Egypt), Kali (India), Demeter (Mycenae) and Aphrodite (ancient Cyprus).

Beautiful decorated Easter eggs

Eggs are a symbol of new life and fertility. Our family tradition is to naturally dye and decorate eggs a beautiful golden colour by boiling them in onion peel. Then on Easter Sunday brunch we'll play an odd egg cracking game.The idea is the person whose egg doesn't break is the luckiest for the coming year. I think it's a Greek tradition we have adopted. The Easter bunny is also a symbol of fertility because of their natural ability to reproduce easily.


Chocolate goodies all wrapped up


Chocolate Macadamia Truffles
These are so good! Like macadamia "Bounty's" but better. Wrap them in pretty foil for Easter...
Ingredients... (Filling)
whole macadamias
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup cashew nut or macadamia nut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

Basic chocolate mixture

Method...
1. Mix coconut, butter, vanilla, maple syrup and salt in a food processor until combined.
2. Using 1 whole macadamia cover with the coconut mixture to form a ball or egg shape.
3. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
4. Prepare basic chocolate mixture and temper, dip each egg in chocolate, let excess drip off then let set.

The Story of the Easter Bunny

The goddess of spring, Ostara was adored for her beauty by all the land. Long golden hair and a charming face she would travel the world and bring love, happiness and new life to all. Snow melted as the flowers blossomed on her journeys as the warm yellow sun followed her every step. Nature celebrated as the new babies were born and the soil became rich and fertile.


One year she came late by mistake. Looking around she could see how harsh the dark, cold winter had been on the world. The earth was looking baron and unfriendly. Feeling guilty Goddess Ostara saved a baby bird whose wings had been frozen by the snow but he could no longer fly. Feeling compassion for the little bird Ostara turned him into hare and gave him the gift of being able to run swiftly, so he may protect himself from hunters.


To honour his previous life as a bird, she gave him the ability to lay eggs of all colours of the rainbow but only once a year. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet eggs were laid once a year on her every return.


One day the hare had angered the goddess, so she cast him into the skies as the constellation Lepus (The Hare) forever and positioned under Orian (the Hunter). She permitted the hare  to return to earth only once a year at spring time to give away his colourful eggs to the children of the land who waited eagerly for his arrival.

There we have the beginnings of the Easter bunny, bringer of chocolate eggs!

Happy Easter

Love

Ulyana...