About ten years ago, a few Christian students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were bemoaning the commercialization of Easter.
“We were talking about how all the important Christian holidays have been commercialized or their actual meaning ruined or subverted,” says Mattox Beckman, who’s completing his doctorate in computer science. Beckman wanted to turn the tables. “I recalled thinking . . . ‘Wouldn’t it be funny to eat the Easter Bunny for supper on Easter Sunday?’ ”
The Christians kept the meal to themselves, preparing rabbit for Easter off and on over the next several years. Since 1998, though, the dinner has become an annual tradition, and last year 30 to 35 people joined in. Most were graduate students affiliated with the interdenominational group InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, one of the largest organizations on campus. But some of the guests were non-Christians.
“We’ve been trying to refocus on the true meaning of Easter–we believe it’s Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead, not the Easter Bunny,” says Nina Chanlin. “The focus was on the rabbit because it’s unusual.”
There are many ways to cook rabbit. It usually comes frozen; the Schnucks on Sangamon currently sells it for $2.99 a pound. At first the students consulted cookbooks. They learned to steam, stew, and broil rabbits. They have marinated them in mustard cream and red wine sauce. What about the taste?
“It’s OK,” says Chanlin, who graduated two years ago with a master’s in architecture and business administration. “It’s not one of my favorites–it’s a little gamy. It does not taste like chicken.”
Diners are handed a sheet of paper explaining the true origins of all things associated with the holiday.
Easter is not even a Christian term. The word comes from the Old English “Eastre,” the name of a pagan goddess of spring and the pagan festival commemorating her. The goddess’s symbol is the rabbit, which is associated with fertility. The festival takes place on the Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox, usually between March 22 and April 25. These dates coincide with the time Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection, which follows the Jewish Passover, the day the Bible claims Christ was crucified. Christians renamed that day Good Friday.
It’s no accident that Christian holy days fall on other holidays. The early church meant to subvert rival religions. To some extent, the strategy has backfired. Christian holy days have been subverted as well–not so much by pagans but by corporations, which cash in on Santa Claus, trick-or-treating, and chocolate Easter eggs.
“Christianity had a kind of Microsoft-like attitude about other religions–embrace and extend,” Beckman says. “We put our festivals right on top of old ones, and people have to decide which is more important.” Beckman says he’s thought about serving reindeer on Christmas, but “usually people are all gone on winter break.”
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2003.
