MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Where Did The Easter Bunny Come From?
Even if you allow for miracles, angels, and pancake Jesus, the Easter Bunny still comes across as a pretty far-out choice as a holiday mascot. Where did the Easter Bunny come from? How did a rabbit become associated with a holiday that commemorates Christ’s resurrection?
The Bible doesn’t mention a cheerful rabbit hopping house to house with baskets of eggs for kids to hunt on Easter Sunday. But because hares (rabbits) symbolize fertility in many cultures, and since spring is the season of rebirth & renewal, some believe those ideas played a big part in bunnies getting linked to Easter. Hares have also been closely tied to certain deities, like Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of springtime & fertility. Legend says that Eostre once saved a wounded bird, whose frostbitten wings led Eostre to transform the bird into a hare. To thank Eostre, the hare would return once a year during the festival of Eostre & lay colored eggs, since eggs were viewed as emblematic of the renewal of life.
Then, when Christianity began to spread, missionaries would frequently place pagan ideas & rituals within the context of the Christian faith, partly by transforming pagan festivals into Christian holidays. The Eostre festival, which was held around the spring equinox, soon became the same time when Christians would also celebrate Christ’s resurrection. And eventually, the two celebrations became one, with Eostre’s name ultimately being co-opted as the holiday’s name.
But what about Easter eggs? Well, within Christianity, eggs are representative of Christ’s resurrection, which is why some Christians will refrain from eating them during Lent and, instead, decorate them to celebrate the start of spring. Easter eggs are also found in late 16th century Germanic writings, as they converted the pagan hare imagery into “Oschter Haws”, a much cuter cottontail who’d leave batches of colored eggs in gardens once each year for good children to hunt for. The Pennsylvania Dutch brought Oschter Haws with them in the 1700s as they settled here in America, after which he eventually evolved into the Easter bunny we all now know & love, bringing chocolate & toys alongside the traditional eggs.
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Joe Asamoah
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Do Teeth Whiteners Really Work?
Teeth whitening is a multibillion-dollar industry. Products are being used by more than 11% of households every year. We’re definitely paying for whiter teeth, but are we getting them? Do teeth whiteners really work? HOW do they work?
First, do they work? Well…sort of. Their overall effectiveness really varies. Nearly all commercially available teeth whitening products include hydrogen peroxide, from the ones done at your dentist’s office to your at-home whitening strips to even your mouthwash. But their effectiveness ultimately depends on 3 things: how concentrated they are, how long they stay on your teeth, and where the discoloration is on your teeth.
Using a concentrated product as directed will most likely give you a brightening effect. But unfortunately, it’ll only be temporary. Once you stop bleaching, the effects regress & your chompers return to their original color. So, it becomes a process you have to do again & again. But, while bleaching agents are mostly safe in small doses, they’re concentrated products that aren’t intended for long-term use. Over time, soaking your teeth in them ends up hurting your teeth & gums.
So, if a lifelong bleaching habit isn’t viable, what about all those “natural” whitening remedies we’ve all seen online? Well, dentists agree that baking soda is safe as long as you also brush your teeth with toothpaste. But baking soda can only scrub your teeth, not brighten them. Or, if you’re a fan of Dr. Oz, then you may know he once touted that you can whiten your teeth by brushing with a mixture of strawberries & baking soda. On behalf of your dentist: do not do this. Scientists actually tested that mixture on extracted human teeth & basically said “absolutely not”. Because not only does the strawberry/baking soda combo not brighten teeth, it actually hurts them. Strawberries contain a naturally occurring compound known as malic acid, which will eat away at your teeth’s enamel. And that’ll only make them softer, not whiter.
So, just be careful with whatever you may choose to use to brighten your smile. But if your teeth are genuinely important enough to you to try & whiten them, there’s only 2 things that will always help: regular brushing & flossing.
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Wake Up Crew Highlights: March 27, 2024
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Why Are Jellybeans An “Easter Candy”?
Unlike Christmas & Thanksgiving, Easter doesn’t really have a traditional food menu. Apart from the dyed, hard-boiled eggs that kids hunt on Easter morning, the foods we most closely associate with the Christian holiday of Easter are actually…mass-produced candies, like chocolate bunnies, marshmallow Peeps, and Cadbury Eggs, all of which make sense since Easter happens in the Spring. But there’s one candy that’s considered an “Easter candy”, yet their doesn’t seem to be a obvious reason why: jellybeans. Why are jellybeans considered an Easter candy?
Jellybeans actually have their roots in a Middle Eastern dish called “Turkish Delight”, a gelatin confection that actually pre-dates the Bible’s New Testament. And that gelatin base, which comes from the collagen in animal bones & tendons, eventually came to be used to create other sweet treats like JELL-O, gummy bears, licorice…and, of course, jellybeans.
Jellybeans got their start in the late 1800s, back when candy was more closely associated with Christmas than Easter. Jellybeans first got floated as an Easter treat as a cost-saving measure: they were affordable, and, since they were shaped like tiny eggs & also came in an array of bright colors, people could replace the potentially stinky real chicken eggs in their Easter baskets with jellybeans. Plus, with Easter marking the end of the Lenten season, most folks couldn’t wait to enjoy a jellybean sugar rush. So, jellybeans quickly got adopted into the American Easter tradition while, at the same time, falling out of favor at Christmas (but it had/has plenty of other candies all to itself, anyway, so…). Jellybeans’ popularity grew steadily throughout the 1900s before really taking off in the 1970s. It was in the 60s that the Goelitz Candy Company first introduced jellybeans that were infused with flavor in both their candy coating & their jelly center. Then, in 1976, Goelitz started experimenting with more off-the-beaten-path flavors like cream soda & root beer. Oh, and that was also the year that they changed their name to Jelly Belly.
Candy may be the most popular Easter item here in the US, but that ain’t the case in a lot of other countries where Easter is still observed. Breads actually seem to be the most common theme at Easter around the world. In the UK, hot cross buns are the big holiday sweet, while Ukraine & Poland celebrate with sweet loaves called “babka”. And in Cyprus, they eat flaounes, which are dough filled with eggs, cheese, and mint.
No matter where you go, though, it seems that Easter is destined to remain delicious.
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