跨文化的饗宴-外語中心復活節系列活動

跨文化的饗宴-外語中心復活節系列活動

By Armon Nakprasert, Foreign Language Center

         Long ago, before monotheism (the belief in one god), people all over the world were polytheists (the belief in many gods – and goddesses.) They believed that many gods control the natural world. Every thing from trees, water, clouds, lighting, and even the seasons, were all controlled by different gods or goddesses. This was the blueprint for some of the most famous religious, mainly Christian holidays of today. This brings me to one of the famous holidays of spring; Easter. Easter was originally a spring festival. It was a celebration of new life. Winters in Europe, especially in the north, were particularly harsh and unrelenting. If you survived, this was cause for celebration.

         One of the most important goddesses of the polytheist religion of ancient times is the goddess of fertility, life, and spring. This goddess was worshiped throughout the ancient world. Her name in ancient Britony, now the United Kingdom, was Eostre-sound familiar?  She was credited with bringing back life to the land, “springing” everything back to life from the death of winter. So much so that the polytheists believed this to be the beginning of the  “new” calendar year.  Everything died in the winter, mainly plants. Animals that did not hibernate for the winter left for warmer and more accommodating climates in the south or risk certain death as well from lack of food. Along comes spring, plants come back to life, and animals awake from hibernation or returned home. This is also where we get the egg and rabbits from. Eggs are a symbol of new life. Rabbits are ancient symbols of fertility in Northern Europe. Life returns to the land that survived a forbidding winter. Animals mate and produce new life, flowers bloom, and food is plenty once again. Of course, a celebration was in order! Everything began once again, hence the “new” year. If you asked me, this makes more sense than starting a new year in the middle of the dead of winter. (I do not care what science says about the orbit of the earth around the sun!) We also get the tricky holiday of April Fools’ Day from this confusion. When the first Christian missionaries arrived in northern Europe or in the lands of the polytheists, they thought it was a foolish idea to think that the new year starts in April, hence, April fools’ you are to believe this is new year’s day. However, the polytheists’ beliefs were not totally absent of value. The Christians shrewdly used their (the polytheists) beliefs to help them convert to Christianity. They linked Jesus’s resurrection (coming back to life) with the spring and everything coming back to life.

         A couple of thousand years later, the Christian religion spread rapidly throughout Europe. To make the conversion more palpable, Christianity “adopted” local customs into their own practices. This is where the symbolism of the egg and bunny is linked to Jesus’s resurrection. Of course, you do not have to be a Christian to enjoy fun Easter activities as my students also learned. You can still enjoy all of the chocolate eggs, bunnies, and jelly beans as your blood sugar may allow. After giving my students an educational lesson about Easter, I asked my students to break into two teams and vote for a leader to hunt the eggs that I had surreptitiously hidden just before class started. Tremendous prizes awaited the winning team while the losing team did not go away empty-handed as well. My lesson was bookend with a robust game of Easter bingo where more prizes were to be had by a lucky few. Stay safe, and a Happy Easter (Spring) to all !

305班 黃晨絜

I missed most of Teacher Armon’s Easter activity class. I asked my classmates about it for this article and they said that Teacher Armon talked about things people did on Easter, and the games that my classmate played, it sounded so much fun to me. Things like the Easter bunny, dying eggs, Easter baskets filled with candy. Families and friends sharing a special time together preparing for Easter that helps to bring everyone closer. I wish I could celebrate Easter or at least could have been present in Teacher Armon’s Easter activity class.

        I hope by next Easter, Taiwanese would try to celebrate this holiday so that everyone can learn about this fun and sweet holiday !

401班吳正文

         The first time I experienced Easter activities was when I was in kindergarten. Even though I was a young boy, I still remember that I dyed eggs with my classmates. I dyed my eggs purple and yellow. After that, our teachers hid the eggs in the schoolyard and asked us to hunt for them. I haven’t participated in any Easter activity since. However, last week in Mr. Armon’s class, he taught us about the history and origin of Easter. I also learn from Mr. Armon that there is no connection between bunnies, eggs, and the Christian Easter holiday, but people who are not Christians in the USA still like to eat candy that is shaped like rabbits and eggs anyway. We also played fun games like an Easter eggs hunt and Easter bingo. Although I am 16 now, egg hunting is still a lot of fun.

402班 吳熙媜

        Easter is an important holiday to many people. In Western countries, people often have many special ways to celebrate this holiday, such as dying eggs, giving a basket full of candy and chocolate to kids, and playing fun games like egg hunts. To my surprise, our Teacher Armon planned some entertaining Easter activities for us in class. Firstly, we learned about Easter’s origin, traditional rituals, and how people usually celebrate Easter throughout history. After that, I am now more familiar with this holiday. Secondly, our teacher shared his past experiences with Easter. Not only was I intrigued with Teacher’s stories, but also hope that I can experience Easter in the US myself someday. At the end of the class, we had our own egg hunt. We split into two groups, and I was the captain of our group. My team would try and guide me to where the eggs were hidden. With the help of  teammates, both teams found a lot of eggs and finished the class happy. Thanks Teacher Armon and Happy Easter !