Easter Bunny Postcard 1907

The Easter Bunny or Easter Hare (sometimes Spring Bunny in the U.S.) is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs, who sometimes is depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature brings baskets filled with colored eggs, candy and sometimes also toys to the homes of children on the night before Easter. The Easter Bunny will either put the baskets in a designated place or hide them somewhere in the house or garden for the children to find when they wake up in the morning.

The Easter Bunny is a counterpart to the Santa Claus of Christmas, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday. It was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Frankenau’s De obis paschalibus (About the Easter Egg) referring to an Alsace tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs (and the negative impact of too much egg consumption).

Origins

Bringing Easter eggs seems to have its origins in Alsace and the Upper Rhineland, both then in the Holy Roman Empire, and southwestern Germany, where the practice was first recorded in a German publication in the 1500s (early 16th century). The first edible Easter Eggs were made in Germany during the early 19th century and were made of pastry and sugar.

The Easter Bunny was introduced to the United States by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 18th century. The arrival of the Osterhase was considered one of “childhood’s greatest pleasures”, similar to the arrival of Kris Kringle on Christmas Eve.

According to the tradition, children would build brightly colored nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The “Oster Hawse” would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets.

Rabbits and Hares

Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.

The saying “mad as a March hare” refers to the wild caperings of hares as the males fight over the females in the early spring, then attempt to mate with them. Since the females often rebuff the males’ advances before finally submitting, the mating behavior often looks like a crazy dance; these fights led early observers to believe that the advent of spring made the hares “mad”. This bold behavior makes the hares, normally timid and retiring animals, much more conspicuous to human observation in the spring.

Rabbits and hares are both prolific breeders. The females can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first. This phenomenon is known as superfetation. Lagomorphs mature sexually at an early age and can give birth to several litters a year (hence the sayings, “to breed like bunnies” or “multiply like rabbits”). It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore.

Eggs

Easter Postcard 1910

The precise origin of the ancient custom of coloring eggs is not known, although evidently the blooming of many flowers in spring coincides with the use of the fertility symbol of eggs—and eggs boiled with some flowers change their color, bringing the spring into the homes. Many Christians of the Eastern Orthodox Church to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red, the color of blood, in recognition of the blood of the sacrificed Christ (and, of the renewal of life in springtime). Some also use the color green, in honor of the new foliage emerging after the long dead time of winter.

German Protestants wanted to retain the Catholic custom of eating colored eggs for Easter, but did not want to introduce their children to the Catholic rite of fasting. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time.

The idea of an egg-laying bunny came to the U.S. in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the “Osterhas”, sometimes spelled “Oschter Haws”. “Hase” means “hare”, not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the “Easter Bunny” indeed is a hare, not a rabbit. According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter. In 1835, Jakob Grimm wrote of long-standing similar myths in Germany itself. Grimm suggested that these derived from legends of a goddess called Ostara, but as a romanticist, he tried to connect contemporary customs to pre-Christian traditions, knowing that no written sources of that time existed. Additionally, a goddess of that name is only mentioned in a single ancient source giving an ambiguous statement about an Ostara month.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_bunny

Amazingly enough, the whole scenario changes dramatically when we offer boiled eggs, because we are in possession of an egg-shell-perforation-causer. We just call out to him, “Patrick, we have boiled eggs,” and he comes running from wherever he was hiding. In my personal opinion every household is incomplete without an egg-shell-perforation-causer, but it also seems the Voss household is the only one in the entire United States to use it.

It is sort of a German tradition to occasionally serve boiled eggs for breakfast, in addition to bread and rolls. My wife and I got into the habit after we had visited Germany together, and especially after a friend of ours gave us an egg-shell-perforation-causer as a gift. Eating boiled eggs is so much more fun with the egg-shell-perforation-causer, and, as I mentioned before, even Patrick loves it. You can say, the egg-shell-perforation-causer keeps our family together.

The basic problem with eating boiled eggs is to produce a clear-cut edge on top where you open a boiled egg. Many people prefer to use a breakfast knife and simply cut the top off. Such a barbaric method is simply not acceptable. The edge is too rough, and you may end up with egg shell pieces in your yoke.

The way to do it, is using an egg-shell-perforation-causer as shown in the following.

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• First you place the egg-shell-perforation-causer on top of the boiled egg.
• You lift the little spheric weight to the top of the egg-shell-perforation-causer
• Let the weight drop to the bottom of the egg-shell-perforation-causer.
• Remove the egg-shell-perforation-causer.

The egg-shell-perforation-causer has left a perfectly round perforation, and the top of the egg can be easily peeled off. The edge will be as straight as can be.

Thank you, egg-shell-perforation-causer, for saving our family!

Amaretto Soufflé
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1/2 cup superfine sugar
6 amaretto or almond cookies-coarsely crushed
6 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur
4 eggs, separated
1 egg white
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 pinch cream of tartar (if needed)
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

In another bowl mix together the 4-egg yolks, 2 tablespoons sugar and all the flour. Heat the milk just to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Gradually add the hot milk to the egg mixture stirring.

Pour the mixture back into the pan. Set over low heat and simmer gently for 3 – 4 minutes or until thickened stirring occasionally Add the remaining Amaretto liqueur. Remove from the heat.

In a clean, grease free bowl, whisk the 5 egg whites until they hold soft peaks. (If not using a copper bowl add the cream of tartar as soon as the whites are frothy.) Add the remaining sugar and continue whisking until stiff.

Add about one-quarter of the whites to the liqueur mixture and stir in with a rubber spatula. Add remaining whites and fold in gently. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared souffle dish. Cover with a layer of the moistened amaretti cookies, then spoon the remaining souffle mixture on top.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the souffle is risen and lightly browned. Sprinkle with sifted confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.

Acorn Squash Soufflé
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2 small  acorn squash — (3/4 lb. ea)
4 teaspoons  brown sugar
Grating of fresh nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon  salt
4 tablespoons  butter
1/4 teaspoon  ground cinnamon
1 large  egg — separated
1 egg white
Fresh ground black pepper