|
|
|
|
April 13 and 17, 2003
Wooden White House Easter Eggs
From the collections of |
|
|
Welcome to
Easter 2003 The main focus of the exhibit are wooden souvenir White House Easter Eggs that are given to children who participate in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. The eggs that are on loan from Pam Ott came from their yearly trips to D.C. when her daughters, twins, Kristen and Rachael, and younger sister Mandy were of the participating age. Trudy Ensminger’s eggs were collected from visits when she took her son Ty for the egg rolls. At the time of their trips in 1988 1989, Trudy said that each child was allowed more than one wooden souvenir egg per year to take home as treasures. Some of the eggs are “signed” by the President and First Lady and others are autographed by well-known and famous individuals who were present to help with the egg roll. |
 |
|
Also on loan from both ladies, are pamphlets and booklets, a digital White House Easter newspaper front page, and photographs. |
|
|
|
|
|
The
collections and interests of David Thomas vary greatly. One of his favorite
collections includes a wide variety of Easter related items. His collection
of one dozen White House Easter Eggs runs consecutively from 1990 to 1999
with only an egg from 1993 missing.
Thomas has also loaned his delightful pressed, beautifully colored cardboard Easter eggs that were used as candy containers. His “Rabbit Ware” plates enhance the exhibit along with the chocolate candy molds. Tucked here and there throughout the exhibit are vintage Easter postcards. "Rabbit Ware" is a category of tableware that was decorated in the manner of transfer‑with‑cut‑sponge. It has been suggested the origin of these animals on tableware may be traced to the stories of American author Joel Chandler Harris (1840 ‑ 1904) who made the character Bre'r Rabbit famous in his Uncle Remus stories. Thought to have been made especially for the children's market, rabbit ware is difficult and costly to obtain today. |
|
 |
 |
|
The White House Easter Egg Roll
The Easter egg roll is a popular mode of celebrating Easter
today. The most significant egg roll is done on the lawns of the White
House. This popular concept began in the 1800's. The significance of
`rolling' eggs on Easter Sunday remains the same everywhere. It perhaps
recalls the descent of the ‘Angel of the Lord' from heaven who rolled back
the stone from the opening of Christ’s tomb. The idea of the White House Easter Egg Roll was conceived by First Lady Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison (1809-1817). She thought, after hearing that Egyptian children rolled colored eggs at the site of the Pyramids, that American children would also enjoy this activity. The first egg roll was held on the United States Capitol grounds. The place
of the egg roll changed in 1878 when some Congressmen became tired of
slipping and sliding, year after year, on the smashed remains of the eggs.
The Capitol policemen were ordered to banish the children from the Capitol
grounds. Two versions of how the Egg Roll got started on the grounds of the
White House are as follows. President Rutherford B. Hayes, while riding in
his carriage, saw the tearful children who were leaving the Capitol grounds
and invited them to the White House lawn to have the egg roll. Another
story says that an angry nursemaid “marched” to the White House and demanded
that the children be allowed on the White House grounds for the Egg Roll. The Egg Roll, the favorite event of children, was not the only popular Easter Monday egg game that was played during the late 1800’s at the White House. Other games included Egg Picking, Egg Ball, Toss and Catch, Egg Croquet, and floating empty egg shells in the South Lawn Fountain. The National Zoo and other locations were used for the Egg Roll during World War I and II when the White House Lawn was closed to the children. |
|
|
Egg Safety Do not eat eggs which have been un-refrigerated for two or more hours or that have cracked shells. Only eat eggs that have been colored with non-toxic dyes that have been approved for food coloring. |
|
|
Allison-Antrim Museum’s First Egg Roll On Tuesday, April 15, the Greencastle-Antrim Head Start children were treated to an egg roll on the back lawn of the museum’s grounds. The three, four, and five-year olds in Kay Witmer’s class also got to see the museum’s Easter Egg exhibit. Before the children got on the bus to leave for Easter vacation, each child was given a hard boiled, colored egg with their name on it along with a wooden souvenir egg printed with “Easter at Allison-Antrim Museum 2003”. |
|
|
EASTER Scholars believe Easter derived from Oestar or another reference, Eostre ‑ goddess of Spring and renewal. There is little written lore available on Eostre, but the venerable Bede and Jacob Grimm both affirmed her existence based on folklore and the traditional German Easter festival Ostarun. According to legend, she is associated with Spring, as well as with the sunrise. Related stories of Eostre say she saved a bird whose wings were frozen from the harsh winter by turning it into a rabbit. This magical rabbit could actually lay eggs. In legends associated with Eostre, she is nearly always accompanied with a hare, so it would be easy to see the connection between this myth and the story of the Easter Bunny. Rabbits were symbols of fertility in ancient Egypt. Another source states that the rabbit first mentioned as Easter Bunny with eggs came from Germany in the late 1500's. In many sections of Germany, the belief was that the Easter Bunny laid red eggs on Holy Thursday and multi‑colored eggs the night before Easter Sunday. The egg is nature's perfect package. It is the universal symbol of Easter celebrations throughout the world. Because the egg has been the symbol of creation, fertility and new‑life it has been honored in many rites of Spring by the Romans, Gauls, Chinese, Egyptians and Persians who have exchanged decorated eggs at the spring equinox. Decorating of eggs has been historically documented from the accounts of Edward I in the year 1290 ‑ when expenditure of 18 pense was recorded for the purchase of 450 eggs to be gold‑leafed and colored for Easter gifts. Different cultures have developed their own style of decorating Easter eggs ....the red dyed eggs of the Greeks to honor the blood of Christ; to the beautiful pysanki eggs of the Ukraine. One custom refers to one person knocking their egg against another's ‑ the first to crack their egg shell will have good luck. The Easter egg roll is a popular way of celebrating Easter today. The most significant egg roll is done on the lawns of the White House. This popular concept began in the 1800's. The significance of `rolling' eggs on Easter Sunday remains the same everywhere. It perhaps recalls the descent of the ‘Angel of the Lord' from heaven who rolled back the stone from the opening of the tomb of Christ. The Romans celebrated the Easter season by running races on an oval track and the prize ‑ eggs. Today many families urge the Easter Bunny to hide eggs for the children to hunt, which is also often a community activity. Even the date of Easter is symbolic to the rite of spring. It wasn’t until 325A.D. that its place on the calendar was actually fixed to the Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox. Roman Emperor Constantine established the date. The date of Easter is based upon the lunar calendar, as were many of the early celebrations, which were based on equinoxes, solstices or lunar cycles. Among other traditions of the season is the interesting one of the Poles called switching day. This tradition is well over 800 years old and usually was the peasant boys celebrating the end of Lent and eagerly enjoying the lull in farm work. They would switch their sweethearts with red willow switches; this tradition always done in fun with the girls returning to their teasers and switching them on Easter Tuesday. We can also note that Emperor Constantine was instrumental in establishing what today we call the Easter parade ...the wearing of new clothes. He asked his citizens to wear their best clothing to observe or honor the Holy Day. Today, the gift of an egg does not carry the deep symbolic meaning it once had, and few people realize that they are taking part in a ritual that goes back thousands of years. Yet the giving of the Easter egg remains a beautiful antique gesture, to be renewed every year when the sun rises again on a new spring. Whatever your belief, Easter and its legends and symbols are cherished throughout the world. |
|
| top | |
