Are You An "Ears First" of "Feet First" Person?

Hippity-hop to the candy shoppe, Easter's on its way. Okay - it's not an original thought - just a childhood jingle that won't escape my head. Apparently, many of you hippity-hop to the candy shoppe - or simply wander over to your grocer's seasonal aisle. The amount of Easter candy purchased, and presumably consumed, in the US alone, is really quite hare-raising! 16,000,000 jelly beans. 90,000,000 chocolate bunnies. An estimated 1,825,000,000 marshmallow peeps. Not to mention, chocolate malt eggs and numerous other goodies. Look out. A Monday-morning-sugar-low is heading your way.

Easter Sunday, April 8th this year, is one of the most joyous Christian holidays celebrated worldwide. It's believed the word Easter is a variation of Eostre, the pre-Christian European pagan Goddess of Spring. Festivals honoring Eostre celebrated the arrival of Spring and its symbolic meaning for rebirth and renewal.

Easter traditions are-a-plenty and most have little to do with our sugary addictions. Take the Easter Lily for example. Long a symbol for purity, the Bible refers to the Lily as a sign of beauty and goodness. The bloom also suggests it's the perfect flower for trumpeting in Spring!

Hot-Cross Buns are an aBUNdant Easter-time treat. Sorry. These nutmeg-scented, currant-filled yeast rolls are eaten throughout Lent, as well. A cross is cut into each dough bun before baking. Once done, a cross is piped in icing on top of each bun, all signifying the crucifixion.

The Easter tradition that confuses the crap out of me is the whole Bunny-Egg Theory. Specifically, from a very young age, we were led to believe the Easter bunny LAYS the eggs. He then merrily hid these brightly-colored eggs around the everyone's yards and parks. He. He hid the eggs he laid.

Okay. I get the part about the egg being a long-held symbol for fertility and the beginning-of-life. I mean. Duh. I get that the egg is considered one of nature's most perfect containers. Makes sense. The rabbit/hare is known for its eagerness and ability to reproduce. A good symbol for fertility. With some thought, I get that German pagans believed a hare accompanied, Ostara, the German version of a Spring Goddess. Having spent time on a farm from a very young age, I get that chickens and such species typically lay hard-shell eggs. I get that if something is warm and fuzzy on the outside, its offspring is also warm and fuzzy. And, ultimately it came from the girl animal. Therefore. I do not get how or why the he-bunny-lays-the-egg. Anyone? Anyone?

Decorating and giving eggs as gifts during Springtime festivals began with the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Persians and Chinese. Brightly-colored eggs can also be found in paintings and writings from the European Middle Ages.

Much time passed before our much-loved Easter tradition came about. Solid, hollow, or creme-filled. It doesn't much matter. Chocolate eggs and bunnies are now an Easter must! Which brings me to the question in this article's title.

Are you an "ears first" or "feet first" person? Well. If you're like 76% of us, you eat the chocolate bunny ears first!

Candy facts courtesy of NCA.