Well, today’s the day we celebrate the beginning of the zombie revolution by hiding, finding, and eating chocolate eggs laid by an over-sized fey rabbit. Is anyone else fascinated by this bizarre behavior? South Park recently tried to make sense of the connection between Z-day and rabbits via a parody of the Da Vinci Code saying that the apostle Peter was actually a rabbit (hence the Pope hats are so tall to mask the ears as well as our idea of “Peter Rabbit”). It doesn’t take that much imagination to figure out the connection of bunnies to today. Anyone with an encyclopedia can easily find that “Easter” in the anglo-saxon/germanic communities was named after Eostre or Esthre, a goddess whose feast was celebrated in April. When the Romans invaded with their own little holiday, they were all like, “Hey! We have a holy day in the spring now too! You can celebrate it with us; you just have to stop worshiping your goddess and start worshiping our god, and we won’t kill you.” Esthre, a fertility goddess, had obvious connections to rabbits (as do Ringwalds), and hence the rabbit continued on when the goddess did not. There’s no bunny in other European cultures (except via proxy or media). In France, today is called “Pacques,” derived from the older words for Passover. Most countries in Continental Europe have a variation of “Passover” for their word for today, nothing remotely resembling the Eostre/Esthre of old since she wasn’t their goddess. In France, instead of rabbits delivering odd chocolate confectioneries, French Catholics tell their children that the church bells have gone to Rome during Lent to pray for the sinners of the congregation. Then on Pacques Sunday, the bells return, ringing and flinging candy all over the churchyard for kids to find and enjoy. No bunnies. It’s interesting to see how old pagan beliefs and practices still exist today in the world’s major religions, and it’s more interesting to note how few people are even aware of what they’re celebrating. Ian wished me a Happy Easter. I wished him a Happy Zombie Day and a Happy-Bunny-Hiding-Chocolate Day. This isn’t a “holy day” to me (which is where our modern term “holiday” came from, in case you didn’t know), and I intend to spend the rest of the day doing my usual Sunday activities: grading papers, writing lesson plans, eating, reading webcomics, and watching movies. The rest of you can partake in whatever pagan/religious ceremonies you enjoy, and may you have fun with it. I’m going to be holed up in the house preparing for the sugar-driven zombie hordes.