Easter and Chocolate

You will recall that I wrote in my blog for Valentine day the love story of Valentine and Chocolate namely: the apparent psychoactive ingredient contained in chocolate. This time Easter is again bounty time for the chocolate industry with the Easter eggs made of chocolate of course.

I am of opinion that the chocolate industry has been clever in finding occasion to sell their product by associating every rejoicing moment with chocolate. Easter is indeed rejoicing time for the Christians who during the 40 days of lent have kept a low level of pleasure and lived a period of privation. Hats off to the marketers of Chocolates!In my childhood, we were given for Easter eggs shells stuffed with custard which my parents delicately prepared to celebrate the occasion.

Here is an extract of a blog which questions the relationship between Chocolate and Easter!

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Chocolate and Easter

I’m not particularly religious, at least in the Judeo-Christian traditions, but I can easily appreciate the holidays that affect the American Culture. This weekend, a fairly big one occurs.

Easter.

One thing that has always made me wonder about Easter is how the heck did chocolate come to represent the resurrection of Christ. After a bit of reading, I have found the answer.

Easter Chocolate has nothing to do with the resurrection. Rather, it can be traced to the pagan celebration of all things spring related, with the vernal equinox and such. Hares and eggs have long represented fertility, which is a fairly big deal when it comes to spring. Those wacky Germans, always looking for an excuse to add chocolate to anything celebration, probably were the first to make chocolate eggs and hares. My own theory (not based on anything other than an anecdotal familiarity with religion) contends that chocolate was often seen as a luxury, and after the several weeks of fasting and giving up items of pleasure for lent, chocolate was one of the first items re-introduced to the decadent Catholics and Lutherans.

Later the tradition immigrated to here in the United States along with the Germans, where the custom took hold in the culture after the Civil War.

Baskets of food for Easter dinner used to be taken to church to be blessed. Over time, this became instead baskets of chocolates for children left behind by the Easter Bunny.

So if you’ve ever wondered what’s up with Jesus and Chocolate, now you have a clearer understanding. We eat chocolate bunnies due to a melding of Pagan and Catholic traditions. As to why the head is the first thing we eat off of a chocolate bunny, it’s because we’re sadistic bastards.

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Happy Easter!