Where did Easter and its traditions originate? Most scholars accept the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English St. Bede; it probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated the month of April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox. Eastre was often accompanied by a hare when represented. The fertile nature of rabbits and hares is another symbol of new life and the rebirth that occurs during the spring season. This ancient tradition survives in the Easter Bunny and in colored Easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the colors of spring. These were brought to America by German settlers as the tradition of a bunny named “Oschter Haws” who would visit houses on Easter eve, leaving colored eggs for children. The early Christian Church adopted these symbols to make it easier for new converts to understand Christianity. Another Easter tradition is the eating of Hot Cross Buns. These cakes originally cooked by the Saxons and the crosses on the buns represented the moon’s 4 quarters. The early Christians saw the “Hot Cross Bun” cross as a reference to Christ’s crucifixion. One benefit of Easter that I suspect has never changed is the look in the children’s eyes on Easter morning.

Not quite a life’s work, but the time passed sure makes it seem so. In 1938 Alfred and Adolf Schumann, two boys, were plowing their dad’s field (riding a plow behind the horse team yet, those were the days). They unearthed an arrowhead. The brothers dug around and gathered up a gunny sack full of “pretty shaped rocks”. Time passed. In the late 1960s a local historical society had a drive to find & identify Native American artifacts. The now grown men were approaching 50 years old, so they carried in their discovery. Unfortunately the “expert” wasn’t in so they left their sack and expected to hear back soon. They never did. Time passed. Then it was 2007 and Albert and Adolf are in their 80s. As old men have done since time immemorial, they reflect on what was done and undone in two long and productive lives. One of them thought about those rocks… so a call was made, a question asked. A young graduate student named Andy Bloedorn got the call and investigated. Sure enough he found a box in storage labeled “Sugar Quartz” with the boy’s names under it. And he opened it, and his jaw dropped. Under his gaze was the finest collection of truly ancient American tools he’d ever seen. For very good reason; it is the finest collection of 12,000 year old home-sapiens tools from one source on the planet! After he was sure he was right he called in Robert “Ernie” Boszhardt, the regional archaeologist for the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at UWL. He semi-freaked and … let’s just say that by the time half of the experts in the western world were gathered around exclaiming “spectacular!”, “amazing”, “proof positive”! etc. it was apparent the Schuman boys had answered one of the biggest fights in American archaeology in the last century. For the last 50 years two camps of archaeologists have been arguing whether “Clovis” was or wasn’t the first culture. Most of the experts stood pat with “Clovis First in 8,000 BCE.” The Schuman collection proves that 12,000 years ago, while the glaciers were still retreating, humans were shaping tools to live in the valley that would one day hold the Mississippi. And all during the 60’s, and 70s, and 80s while this “Clovis First” battle roared, the Schuman boys already had the answer, quietly sitting in a box, waiting for someone to do two things; look, and see. The boys are proud of their “pretty rocks”, even if they waited from the age of 17 to 87 till someone actually looked, and saw. What understandings that directly affect your life are lying in some mental box waiting for you to look, and see?

Eddie’s thought for April; “Still buying “Made in China”? Your toilet is china, what do you make there. If you buy “Home Made”, the jobs will come.” Why? Why do banks charge a fee on “insufficient funds” when they know better than anyone there is no money in the account? Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but feel to check when you say the paint is wet? Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard? Why did they put an “S” in the word “lisp”? Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white? Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance? Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end you try first? Why does it bother us when our kids ask why, and also when they grow up and stop? Be well friends, we’ll chat you up in May.

The monthly chatter box is written by Donald Conyngham

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