Cherry Nut Easter Egg
A wonderful Easter treat! These will be loved by young and old alike.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 stick butter or margarine
2 pkg. (3 oz. each) vanilla pudding (not instant)
1 (9 oz.) jar maraschino cherries
1 cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
1 to 2 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1 lb. chocolate, melted
Ingredients:
1. Cut cherries in half; drain well on paper towels.
2. Cook milk, butter and pudding in a medium saucepan on low heat until
well blended and thick.
3. Remove from stove and add cherries, nuts and enough confectioners’ sugar to
make a thick consistency.
4. Form the mixture into 8 to 10 egg shapes with hands coated in butter.
5. Place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Chill several hours until firm.
6. Melt chocolate being careful not to scorch it. Frost egg with melted
chocolate.
7. Decorate with a buttercream icing.
These are delicious! Your family will ask for them year round.
Hare Raising Questions About Easter
Have you ever wondered what a bunny that lays eggs has to do with Easter? Do bunnies even lay eggs? How did the bunny and the egg theory ever come into being? How did Easter come about? What are its origins? These are some of the questions we will look at in today’s article.
Bunnies, chickens and colored eggs all have to do with the Easter Tradition. Today we want to know what do eggs and bunnies have in common. Why isn’t the chicken laying the colored eggs?
Easter was not always a religious holiday but actually had its roots in pagan lore and legend. It was not until 325 A.D. that the Nicean Council declared it a religious holiday.
In order to understand the symbols of Easter we must go back to its early history.
According to Legend there was always an early spring festival celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. This festival was held at the time of the first full moon following the vernal equinox. A fertility goddess named Estre was the goddess of offspring and springtime.
Many pagan religions held the same festival but with different names for their fertility goddess. She was known as Ishtar, Ashtoreth (mentioned in the Old Testament), and Eostre. Besides the difference in names the similarities suggest the same goddess.
She was the goddess of fertility. It was believed by Babylonian legend that a giant egg fell from heaven and was incubated by doves. This is how Ashtoreth/Ishtar/Eastre was born. The god of fertility was called Baal, or Bel in the celtic tongue.
The egg is an earthly symbol of the god of fertility. The hare is associated with the goddess. Together we have a male god and female goddess to bring on the season of fertility.
The egg symbolizes the beginning of life, or the germination of life. Gifts of colored eggs were often given to celebrate the coming of spring.
It is not surprising to find the hare as a symbol of fertility. The hare is a nocturnal creature and is actually a little different from the cottontail rabbits that we have associated Easter with today.
What is the difference between hares and rabbits? Well, as already mentioned hares are nocturnal. Hares are also born with their fur and their eyes wide open. They are ready to hop right away. Bunnies on the other hand are born with no hair and blind. They must stay with the mother until they are weaned. Bunnies run, hares hop. Since rabbits are seen more readily than hares, the rabbit became the symbol for Easter.
Rabbits begin reproducing between the ages of 3 and 5 months of age. The gestation period is 28 days (a lunar cycle) and the litter can be from 3-9 bunnies with the average being 4 per litter. Bunnies are prolific breeders so we see how they are so easily integrated into the springtime celebration of Eastre.
The legend is told that Eastre had a beautiful, large bird. One day she magically changed it into a hare and that is why it makes a nest and fills it with eggs.
The Easter bunny was first mentioned in Germany in the 1500’s.
Eggs, as mentioned earlier, were a symbol of rebirth. They were given to each other to celebrate the arrival of spring. The egg represents fertility, purity and rebirth.
It is believed that eggs make a man more virile. We can see why eggs would be such a mainstay in the fertility festival.
There is an old legend that you can stand an egg on its end during the spring equinox. This apparently has to do with the force of the sun on that particular day. It has been proven that this is not so. You can stand an egg on end any day of the year. It is not the force of the sun but the skill of the person standing the egg that has merit.
It is also interesting to note that eggs were used to cure the “evil eye”. The evil eye was a curse which was believed to dry up all living things. It was said to wither trees, dry up milking animals and nursing mothers etc. The cure always involved using an egg to withdraw the curse.
So we can see now how we got the Easter Rabbit and colored eggs.
One more thing I would like to look at is the tradition of eating ham at Easter and how the festival of Eastre and Easter came together.
According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, “It was a popular Easter custom amongst Europeans and Americans to eat ham at Easter, because the pig was considered a symbol of luck in pre-Christian European culture.”
German tradition believed that pigs we55re symbols of luck. If you had a pig to feed your family you were considered lucky, because times were hard.
(This luck of the pig is probably one of the reasons that people keep their money in piggy banks.)
According to Legend, Nimrod, one of Noah’s descendants, married his mother and became a great king. After his death, his wife/mother proclaimed he had become a “sun god” and was to be called Baal. He was worshipped as a god of fertility and promoted sexual sin. Ishtar (his wife/mother) eventually became pregnant with her son Tammuz who was killed by a pig. She ruled that because her son was killed by a pig, then pig must be eaten on this particular Sunday.
It is interesting to note that swine is not eaten by those of the Jewish faith. It was an abomination of God to eat. The Passover was celebrated with eating lamb which symbolizes their redemption. Some may say that eating ham at Easter is an abomination of the Christian religion.
Problems arose because the festival of Eastre and the Christian observance of celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus fell at the same time of year. Pagans did not like the idea of Christianity because it was too solemn a religion. The early church felt that if it borrowed some of the pagan symbols and icons and made them part of the Christian celebration, this would help the pagans to turn to Christianity more easily. The change was a good way to ease converts from paganism to Christianity.
Because the celebration of Eastre and the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus fell at the same time of year the Nicean Council declared that the day would be celebrated on the first full moon after the vernal equinox and would be called Easter, instead of Eastre.
And that my friends is how Easter was created.
Empty Designer Easter Eggs
Painting eggs for Easter is fun. And crafty too! Impress your loved ones with the
with the loveliest Easter gift: a basket full of decorated eggs they can keep and
display, year after year. Handle them with care, and the prize
is worth it.
You can decorate these unique blown eggs with paint, ribbon and
stuck-on shapes- even sequins. Try them out . They are just charming.
Done all by yourself, they are cute, nifty, and permanent!
Materials:
eggs(as many as you like)
a child-safe sharp pin
a sizeable saucer to hold the contents of the eggs
soft pencil
paints and paintbrushes
glue
ribbons
sticker stars
a nifty garden basket (preferably of cane)
Directions:
Wash the eggs in cold water and dry on paper towels. Use a sharp-pointed
pin to screw a small hole in each end of an egg.
Shake the egg vigorously to break the yolk and mix it with the white. Then
hold the egg over a saucer and blow hard into one hole until all the contents
have run out of the other hole.
Wash the shell carefully under cold running water, rinsing out several times.
Then leave it to dry.
Repeat the process with other eggs.
Use a soft pencil to mark a design lightly on each shell.
Paint motifs. Decide before hand the design and the color to be applied. Then
use one color at a time to draw the motifs. Paint some eggs one color all
over.
Stick a loop of silk ribbon on the top of an egg for hanging.
For designing striped eggs indicate lightly the areas of different color in
pencil. Put colors in the stripes using the penciled lines as a guide.
Decorate plain painted eggs with bands of ribbon and bows.
Stick on the sticker stars to make a pattern with the painted stripes.
To strengthen the eggs, you can coat them with varnish, lacquer or modge podge
after you paint them and before you put on the embellishments.
Carrot Cake Recipe
A perfect sweet treat for your little bunnies! Also makes a wonderful dessert for Easter dinner.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups corn oil
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple in natural syrup
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3 cups grated carrots (about 4 carrots)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil and brown sugar until well blended. In a
separate bowl, sift the baking soda, cinnamon, salt and flour, then gradually
add it to the egg mixture; do not over mix. Add the pineapple and syrup,
coconut, walnuts and carrots, and beat well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until
a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the
pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Serves 12 to 14.
Eggshell Mosaic Craft Idea – A Great Way To Use Up Those Eggshells
Perfect for schools, homeschools or just to keep the kids busy. A great way to
use up the remains of the Easter eggs. Children will love
breaking up the eggshells.
Materials:
Colored eggshells, you can use the ones the kids decorated
construction paper
crayon, pen or marker
glue
Directons:
On a piece of paper have child draw a simple design (e.g. flower, balloon,
kite, egg). Spread glue in design area.
Sprinkle bits of broken eggshells onto glue. Allow to dry then hang and enjoy.
