Happy Easter!

Peter Cottontail from his 1971 television movie, courtesy of
http://www.nydailynews.com

Happy Easter!

Christians worldwide celebrate Easter as Jesus of Nazareth’s resurrection from the dead.  It’s a time of rebirth and rejoicing; flowers are blooming, the air warms and the sun makes its presence known after a long winter.

Some fundamentalist Christians would probably be horrified to know the extent of Easter’s pagan origins and customs.  The very word (in English, that is) Easter derives from the old Germanic goddess of the dawn, Ēostre (also called Ostara and Ēastre).  European tribes celebrated her arrival around present day April, welcoming spring. 

The reason Christians celebrate the Christ’s resurrection around this time is because the New Testament states Jesus died just after celebrating the Jewish Passover feast (The Last Supper).  The actual date Easter is celebrated is calculated by the lunar calendar: each year Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.  Early Christians were notorious for incorporating pagan traditions into Christian ethic to smooth the path to conversion.

As for our other Easter traditions: the Easter bunny, Easter eggs and the like, they all have to do with pagan celebrations regarding spring and the moon.  Birds lay their eggs in the spring, so their abundance during this season makes their use in rites understandable.

The rabbit in the moon, courtesy of http://www.cst.cmich.edu

As for the bunny: hares and rabbits have deep associations with the moon in many cultures.  One can supposedly see a rabbit’s shape in the moon, so they therefore represent everything the moon represents…fertility (I mean, they are bunnies, after all! Plus the moon controls female menstruation), rebirth (waning and returning after a period of darkness), playfulness and sexuality (the reason the marketing genius that is Hugh Hefner chose the bunny as the symbol of Playboy Magazine).  And of course, all the things on that list can also stand for spring!

So this year when you put on your Easter bonnet and paint your eggs and cuddle your bunny, remember our holidays are not just mass-produced excuses to buy candy.  They are long-standing examples of our human history and how we understand and celebrate our world.

Lark Delaney: Foster Mom!

Springtime at the shelter means a lot of things: sweeping out the winter hay we use for insulation in the pens, shoveling mud out of the breezeways and nicer weather for our walks.  It also means stray puppies, which is both a blessing and a bad thing.  We obviously love to see the little guys, but it's a harsh reminder how many animals would be spared suffering if everyone spayed and neutered their pets.

Dogs can breed all year round, but depending on their health and the weather puppies are most often born in the spring and summer, when the temperatures warm up and food is more plentiful.  Last year we had six litters of puppies come through our doors, not counting the single puppies who got picked up or surrendered. 

Our first foster puppy, Tucker

One of those puppies, a 12-week-old Australian Shepherd mix called Tucker came home to be fostered by My Husband and me late last summer.  Tucker had a nasty cough that was aggravated by living in the shelter’s concrete pens barely protected from the elements.

I had never fostered a dog before…I wasn’t sure I could do it without becoming overly attached.  But Tucker needed help.  Puppies, though relatively easy to adopt out are notoriously difficult to place in foster homes because of all the care they need.

I, however, am almost ideally suited to foster puppies until they can be placed up for adoption because I’m home all day and we have a sweet young spaniel to help socialize the visiting dogs.

We called him "Joey," as well as "Tucker"

Tucker spent two weeks with us…one week to cure his cough and another to get some obedience training.  I was surprised about not getting attached to him.  I mean, I loved him and he was a sweetie (My Husband and I called him “Joey” because he looked just like a baby kangaroo) but he wasn’t my dog.  He was some other family’s dog.  Does that make sense?

Tucker, unfortunately, got TOO comfortable in our home and started marking territory with his urine.  He went to another foster family with a huge chunk of land and a bunch of kids, and they had him another two weeks.  He was finally adopted in January by a military couple just before the husband deployed.  His new mom sent the shelter a nice letter telling us what a wonderful addition to the family he is!

So I guess we’ll see who the spring brings into our lives this time...