There's a Reason for the World: Hippity hoppity, Happy Easter day

Happy Easter Welcome to a Holiday Celebration

Easter is the time of springtime festivals, and a time to welcome back the Tulips, the Crocuses and the Daffodils. Its a time of new suits, new dresses and patent leather shoes. A time for Christians to celebrate the life and resurrection of Christ. And a time of chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks, and coloured eggs!

Easter will be celebrated on Sunday April 08, 2007.

The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Easter. The goddess, Easter, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.
The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.

The Easter Egg
As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, coloured brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

Today, children hunt coloured eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

Like their visit with Santa at Christmas, little egg hunters will climb up on the Easter Bunny's lap at the mall to have brief chat. The only thing is the Easter Bunny does not talk. That's okay because kids usually have a lot to talk about and the Easter Bunny has big ears to listen.

The children would build their nest in a secluded place in the home, the barn or the garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make the nests . The use of elaborate Easter baskets would come later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread through out the country.

"Oh! Here comes Peter Cottontail, Hoppin' down the bunny trail, Hippity hoppityHappy Easter day"

Easter Egg hunts, usually held the day before Easter, are as much a part of Easter as pumpkins are to Halloween and presents are to Christmas. Easter eggs hunts are held by families, organizations, and even local town events. The theme is always the same. A number of eggs are hidden, usually separated by two to four age groups. On a given signal, the children race to find the hidden eggs. In days gone by, the eggs were hard boiled and decorated. Most commonly today, hollow plastic eggs are used. These eggs are filled with candies or a coin. Sometimes a prize slip for a bigger prize is included.

However this event is carried out, it is always over too quickly. Organizers spend hours making the eggs, or filling them with prizes. Then, they carefully hide dozens, or even hundreds of them depending, upon the size of the expected crowd. For all these hours of effort, the hunt only lasts minutes as eager children race to find their prizes.

-- If you and your family don't want to miss out on the Easter party please welcome to enjoy a fun filled afternoon cone join the Easter festivities on Friday, March 30, 2007 at the Ambassador's Residence, Bangkok, Thailand.