Зайчик на Пасху / Easter Rabbit

Description

There are many traditions associated with Easter. Some of them have their roots in Christianity. There are customs, on the contrary, that are not Christian in origin. For instance, eating bunny-shaped chocolates. Initially, it was a Pagan tradition to paint hard-boiled eggs. Furthermore, the egg was a symbol of new life. People colored it to celebrate the begging of spring season. In the 13^th century, the Easter egg gained a new meaning. It became a symbol for Jesus Christ’s resurrection. During the Lenten season, the Church forbade its parish to consume eggs as food. So, people decorated them to mark the end of penance period and the beginning of celebration.

Facts from history

According to some resources, eggs painting is one of the oldest decorative traditions in the world. Some people believe it came from Africa. Archeologists found painted ostrich shell pieces and empty eggs shells in ancient tombs there. In Persia, there was a tradition to decorate eggs for the New year. People call it Nowruz. You could see beautiful eggs on the altars.  In Jewish tradition, they can’t imagine Passover without a pure white roasted egg. In Christianity, eggs dyed red represented the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross. Moreover, people still play a funny game on Easter. They are used to tapping hard-boiled eggs again each other. The winner’s egg needs to stay unbroken.

Nowadays, some countries have such popular traditions as Easter egg hunts and egg rolling. While egg hunting on Easter morning,  you need to find an egg hidden outside. The egg roll is a race where you need to push an egg through the grass with a long-handed spoon.

The design of the work “Egg with a Rabbit” came to me while checking my Instagram feed. It’s unbelievable, how many people are preparing for Easter all over the world. They paint, write, embroider. They inspired me and kindled my desire to paint a cute little rabbit surrounded by red colored poppies.