Easter is a moveable holiday, meaning it does not fall on a fixed date in our Georgian calendar (which follows the cycle of the sun and the seasons). Instead, Easter is the first Sunday after the first moon whose 14th day (the ecclesiastic “full moon”) is after March 21. Therefore, Easter can fall on 35 possible dates – between March 22 and April 25 included. It last fell on March 22 in 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It fell on March 23 in 2008, but will not do so again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038. However, it will fall on April 24, just one day before this latest possible date, in 2011. The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date (source: wikipedia). Easter 2009 is April 12.

The English term Easter comes from the Old English word Ēostre. It refers to Eostur-monath, or Oster monat the April month of the Germanic calendar.

German settlers brought the Easter bunny in America in the 1700s. Their children were told about the “Oschter Haws” (a phonetic transcription of the German Osterhase). “Hase” means “hare,” not rabbit, and in western European folklore the “Easter Bunny” indeed is a hare, not a rabbit. The tradition wants that only good children would receive gifts of decorated eggs in the nests that they would build out of caps and bonnets and place in secluded areas of their homes. The nest has turned into the manufactured Easter basket as the tradition spread, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets. Thus the Easter egg hunt was born.

The idea of an egg-laying bunny seems to be the result of a European folklore confusion between hares raising their young at ground level and the finding of bird’s (plovers) nests nearby. So in the Spring, eggs would be found in what looked like hare hollow.

Beautiful handmade “paper” can be made of the inner bark of this wild bush. The fibrous paper is prized for its attractive soft texture, its exceptional durability, strength and resistance to insects. The 2000 year old art of lokta papermaking is being preserved through equal opportunity cooperatives which teach and provide income to many Nepalese.
Easter may be the perfect opportunity to get your hands on these Easter chocolate boxes made by Knipschildt and share this great story with your family and friends.