S: Is for Holiday Seasons

Easter is a lunar festival that falls on the first Sunday, after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. Eostre (pronounced East-ra) was the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn, the fertility goddess of the Northern European peoples, the invading Romans merged Eostre's spring legend with Christianity, to coincide with the time of Christ's resurrection. In German mythology, she is the goddess Ostara, celebrated at the Equninox when night and day are equal and balanced. Her consort was a rabbit Lepus, which was also a symbol of fertility! According to legend, Eostre became angry with the rabbit and cast it into the heavens. Today we can see the constellation Lepus the Hare, at the feet of Orion. Eostre gave Lepus the gift of laying eggs once a year, which, combined with the celebration of Christ's resurrection, is why we have the modern day tradition with the Easter Bunny delivering Easter eggs. From the most ancient times, the goddess Eostre was the measurer of time. Our measurer of time is the moon, chosen over the Sun, so the lunar month of 28 days (four weeks of seven days each) gives 13 periods in 364 days, equivalent to the solar year of 52 weeks. The moon may then be another name for Eostre, and its name comes from the Sanskrit word "mas" — from ma, to measure — and was masculine. Because the measurement of time is an active process, the waxing and full moon was considered male, while the waning and new moon were said to be female. Artists from the far east often painted the moon with rabbits racing across its face. The Chinese, in particular, have represented the moon as a rabbit pounding rice in a mortar. According to tradition, the Jade Rabbit pounds out medicine for the gods with the lady Ch'ang-e. Others say that the Jade Rabbit is a shape assumed by Ch'ang-e herself. Egyptians called the hare "Un," which meant open, to open, the opener. Un also meant period. Thus the rabbit became a symbol for the lunar cycle. The hare as "opener" symbolized the new year at Easter, fertility, and the beginning of new life and these are interesting F.A.C.T.S