Spring and Easter Are On Our Minds
At Plum Brook Chocolate, Easter is one of our favorite days of the year. At no other time does chocolate play such an important role in bringing the family together around the holiday table. We use chocolate to tell the story of the Easter’s true meaning through age-old symbols of the triumph of life over death.
While the lamb’s association with the Easter story comes straight from the Bible, other symbols of the Resurrection were derived from pre-Christian traditions. Rabbits, for instance, were associated with Eostre, the pagan fertility goddess from whom our Christian holiday most likely derived its name, and the ancient Egyptians and Greeks buried their dead with eggs.
I like that Easter doesn’t have a fixed date like Christmas. At the Council of Nicaea, the Church fathers decided that the date of Easter would depend on the lunar cycle and equinox because of Passover. Back then, people used the moon to determine the passage of time, and they wouldn’t have had trouble figuring out when Easter would take place. Now that we rely on clocks and other devices to show us what we once learned from nature, the shifting date lends the holiday an air of mystery appropriate for a celebration of eternal life.
I only hope that we won’t have to wait as long for spring this year as we will for Easter. April 20 is a long way off! I suppose it’s fitting to give this particularly harsh winter extra time to run its course, so that the Easter Bunny doesn’t get lost in the snow.