An Easter Special

This week we will be looking at the history of various icons in Easter such as the easter bunny, and the entomology of the word itself.  I feel like it is worth sharing these stories because with many of them I would never have guessed how they came about without first doing research on it.

Etymology
The English word of Easter is believed to be derived from the name of the Pagan Goddess Ēostre She is believed to have been a germanic deity who presided over either spring and fertility or the sunrise. On the germanic calendar Ēosturmōnaþ the rough equivalent of the month of april was named in her honor. It is interesting to note that while it is widely accepted that the name of Easter comes from this goddess some scholars believe that she was actually invented after most people in the regions she would be worshiped in were converted to christianity. It is also worth noting that outside of English few languages use Easter(or similar terms) to refer to the holiday and instead use words derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha meaning Passover.

Easter Eggs

Comparatively Easter eggs have a simple history the practice began as early as the 4th century. In the beginning the eggs would only be died red to represent the blood that christ shed and his resurrection. This practice became officially part of the holiday in 1610 as the work of Pope Paul the fifth. Since then the coloring and use of Easter Eggs has expanded to the variety that we find in our modern culture. 

The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny originated in Germany with him taking a role very similar to that we find in Santa Claus today. He would judge if children were good or bad and if they were good leave them presents and colored eggs in the night for them to discover come morning. The first mention of the tradition comes from a book written in 1682. The choice of a hare as the symbol of Easter is believed to stem from the false belief in ancient times that hares were hermaphrodites and as such could reproduce without losing their virginity which created an association between them and the Virgin Mary. They were also seen as symbols of fertility showing the better fertility of soil that came with spring. The idea seems to have spread quickly as there are records of it having reached America as early as the 1700's.

Skin-walkers

A little known legend of the Navajo people is that of the Skin-walkers, people with the power to transform themselves into animals. They are quite similar to the legends of werewolves popular in European mythology with a few key distinctions. The biggest difference between the two is that the skin-walkers are completely in control of their actions while werewolves are compelled by the curse. The other difference is that werewolves only become wolfs while skin-walkers are able to become any animal they chose depending on the job.

Creation of a Skin-Walker

Skin-walkers are said to be witches who have preformed some kind of dark ritual in order to obtain the power to transform into an animal by wearing its pelt. The rituals to gain the power of becoming a skin-walker include crimes such as incest, killing of a blood relative, necrophilia, and cannibalism. It is believed that committing these crimes was such a heinous act that it would destroy your humanity allowing one to gain supernatural powers. The vast majority of these witches are said to be men though they can be women as well, some stories say that only women without children can become a witch. It is said that if a person encounters a skin-walker and knows who they are they can later say their full name and doing so will cause the person to fall gravely ill or die three days later.

Rituals

The rituals preformed by the witches are often very similar to those the tribe healers would preform only changing a few things such as using ash rather than sand to change it from a blessing to a curse. Another similarity to European traditions is that the rituals would often be a blessing chanted backwards to make it into a curse.  One important ingredient in these rituals was the ground bones of a dead infants fingers and skull. It was believed that by having another inhale these they would go into convulsions and die. 

Purpose of the Myth

Much like the wendigo story we looked at earlier it appears that the skin-walker legends are warnings against breaking cultural taboo. A notable difference though is that while the wendigo myth is specific to one taboo one can become a skin-walker through breaking one of many taboos. 

Modern Influences

Skin-walkers have appeared in a variety of television shows, most notably The X-files, Supernatural, and Smallville. They also appear in several other lesser known series and books, and a similar character is featured in the Mortal Kombat video game series.

Leviathan, Behemoth, and Ziz

These three mythological creatures are primordial entities found in Jewish mythology. They are each associated with either the air, sea, or Earth. It addition to being giant monsters they were also metaphoric representations of their respective domains.

Leviathan
Leviathan was said to be a giant sea serpent that was large enough that his tail was always inside his mouth because he could not fit into the oceans of the world and that he would eat a whale every day. It was said god created Leviathan with a wife along with all the other sea creatures during creation week but fearing that if they reproduced they would consume all other life on the planet killed the female. Some scholars believe that the Leviathan may have been inspired by exceptionally large crocodiles though a major problem with this theory is that Leviathan was known as a creature that lived in the deep sea while crocodiles usually stay closer to land. During the middle ages Leviathan was assigned the role of the demon representing the deadly sin of envy. It was said that after the death of its wife it became envious of all other living creatures who had mates and became a demon as a result.

Behemoth
A giant monster that dwelled on land as a counterpart to the Leviathan. It is said that in the end times he will fight with the Leviathan and God will slay them both to hold a great feast. There has been a great deal of dispute over what could have inspired such a creature as it is described as having "a tail that moves like a ceder" making it difficult to identify. It is said that along with Leviathan it is beyond human control and as such can only be tamed by God.

Ziz
The least known of the three Ziz is also the most unique. Like the other two Ziz was a massive creature similar to a griffin in appearance and as large as the Leviathan. Its name was said to come from the many tastes that its flesh had when eaten. While the other two behaved much like animals unintelligent and without purpose Ziz was created as the guardian of small birds. It was said that without him hunters and predators would kill all the small birds so God tasked him with the job of protecting him. Another unique factor of Ziz is that he was not an aggressive creature and as long as you did not harm other birds it would not harm you. The final unique thing about Ziz was that unlike the other two it was immortal. Like the others it was to be eaten in the end times however it would give its flesh willingly and would be recover fro-+m it so quickly that it would be as if it was never cut.