The Easter season is rich in symbolism, some of it deeply religious in nature, some not so much.
You can look all you want, but you aren't likely to find a reference in the Bible to a large bunny hiding brightly colored eggs in the azaleas. Still, rabbits and eggs, as well as, more solemnly, crosses are among the most familiar symbols of Easter.
How this unholy trinity came to be the face of Easter is a little tangled, but perfectly understandable. "It's an interesting contrast," said Peter Schertz, curator of ancient art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, of the dissimilarities of the holiday's icons. "But that's the paradox and paradigm of Easter."
The cross, representative of the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection, is obvious to us now as an Easter symbol, but it was not always so. The cross was not adopted as a Christian symbol until the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, and it did not begin showing up in Christian artwork until hundreds of years after Jesus' death, Schertz said.
"It had a very strong negative connotation that had to be overcome," he said.
The name of the holiday itself is derived from Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess asso-
From there, it's only a small leap to the Easter Bunny and baskets of colorfully dyed Easter eggs.
"These symbols playfully and poignantly evoke an Easter message of liberation and new life," said Kristin M. Swenson, assistant professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Egg-dyeing at Easter developed in Europe centuries ago; some early Christians favored red eggs to symbolize the resurrection and Jesus' blood. The practice led into the realm of art with the famous jeweled Fabergé eggs prized by the Russian royal family. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has five of the Fabergé eggs, the largest public collection outside Russia.
It was just a matter of time before celebrants started hiding and rolling Easter eggs around the lawn.
The Easter Bunny has been traced back to Germany, where it was said to lay red eggs on Maundy Thursday, according to "Holiday Symbols and Customs." German settlers coming to America in the 18th century brought along the Easter Bunny. Their children grew up preparing "nests" of caps and bonnets for the bunny on Easter eve. When they awoke on Easter morning, a mysterious visitor had left colored eggs.
Of course, the larger mystery is how a bunny lays eggs.
Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or wlohmann@timesdispatch.com.
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