MUSE MONDAY Easter Fun
“Brings a whole new meaning to the rabbit died.”
While
legend has told us that the Easter Bunny is a long-eared, cotton-tailed
creature who hops from house to house to deliver festive baskets, there's more
about his history that you might not be familiar with. The Easter Bunny's
connection to this special Christian holiday goes back to pagan traditions.
The
Bible makes no mention of a mythical hare who delivers eggs to children on
Easter day. So, why exactly has a rabbit become a prominent part of one of
Christianity's most important celebrations? One theory, according to Time
Magazine, is that the symbol of the rabbit stems from the ancient pagan
tradition on which many of our Easter traditions are based —the festival of
Eostre, which honored the goddess of fertility and spring. The goddess's animal
symbol was a rabbit, which has long traditionally stood for fertility due to
their high reproduction rates.
As for
how the character of the Easter Bunny made its way to America, History.com
reports that it was first introduced in the 1700s by German immigrants to
Pennsylvania, who reportedly brought over their tradition of an egg-laying hare
named "Osterhase" or "Oschter Haws" from the Old Country.
Legend has it, that the rabbit would lay colorful eggs as gifts to good
children, so kids would make nests in which the bunny could leave his eggs and
even sometimes set out carrots in case the hare got hungry. Remind you of any
other holiday traditions? Eventually, the custom spread across America until it
was a widespread Easter tradition. Over time, the fabled bunny's delivery
expanded from eggs to other treats such as chocolate and toys. Easter baskets
have only gotten more and more elaborate over the years.
Today, the
Easter Bunny is usually depicted as a white rabbit with long ears, often
wearing colorful human clothes. You'll typically find one at Easter parades,
mall kiosks, and other celebratory events for the holiday, often carrying a
basket filled with colorful eggs, chocolate, candy, and other treats to give
out to kids. You can even get their picture taken with the rabbit in some
places.
Despite the
prevalence of the bunny, it's not always a rabbit that brings the Easter eggs
in countries outside of the U.S. In Australia, for example, the spring holiday
is greeted with the Easter Bilby, an endangered rabbit-like marsupial native to
that country. Other gift-bearing animals include the Easter Cuckoo in
Switzerland and, in some parts of Germany, the Easter Fox or the Easter
Rooster.
CREDIT: Good Housekeeping Magazine
Blurb:
Mermaid Swimwear
President Holly Schlivnik discovers the Bainbridge Department Store Easter
Bunny slumped over dead and obnoxious swimwear buyer Sue Ellen Magee is
arrested for the crime. Despite her differences with the nasty buyer, Holly is
convinced the Queen of Mean didn’t do it. The wise-cracking, irreverent amateur
sleuth jumps into action to nail the real killer. But the trail has more twists than a pretzel and more turns
than a rollercoaster. And nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she
tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.
Excerpt:
The door to Sue Ellen’s office flew open and a six-foot tall rabbit I’d later learn named Pedro Conejo, President of Rent a Rabbit Characters, stalked out and bowled me over as I tried vainly to get out of his way.
The messenger bag containing samples and the presentation information fell off my shoulder and bounced across the room. The flap of the unzipped messenger bag flipped open, scattering everything inside it from one end of the room to the other.
The rabbit gripped the two ears atop the head with his paws. He ripped the headpiece straight up and off with a furious jerk and shoved it under his right armpit. He turned, faced Sue Ellen’s open door, and screamed loud enough for anyone at the mart three blocks away to hear. “You can’t prove a damned thing. Think you’ll get away with this? We have a contract. I’ll get you fired for this; you bitch!”
Then the rabbit removed the left paw of his costume with his teeth and gave Sue Ellen the middle finger salute. He hurdled over my prone body splayed out on the floor and stomped out of the office without so much as an apology for knocking me over, let alone an offer to help me up.
I sat up and poked my extremities to make sure nothing
more than my pride had been injured. Satisfied my body, if not my self-respect,
remained in one piece, I shook myself to get out the kinks the way my standard
poodle Siggie does after a bath. I stretched as far as possible and grabbed the
messenger bag. I spent the next five minutes crawling on all fours around the
room, stuffing everything back inside the case. Note to self: Next time, zip
the damned bag closed.
As I shoved the last sample back in the messenger bag, Sue Ellen’s assistant came out of the buyer’s office and observed me sprawled across the floor. I bit the inside of my cheek not to laugh as Abby deadpanned. “Sue Ellen will see you now.”
Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries.
She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.
Looking for more? Contact Susie at:
E-mail: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com
Website: www.authorsusieblack.com
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