Happy Easter! In Mandarin Chinese, how to say ” Happy Easter and have a fun Easter egg hunt ”
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/listen-to4.mp3|titles=listen to]
复活节快乐，祝你有一个有趣的复活节找蛋活动。Fùhuójié kuàilè , Zhù nǐ yǒu yī ge yǒuqù de Fùhuójié zhǎo dàn huódòng. Fùhuójié (复活节 proper noun, 复活 fùhuó means resurrection, 节jié means holiday, and together, Fùhuójié means Easter) kuàilè (快乐 static verb or adjective, happy) , Zhù (祝 verb, wish) nǐ (你 pronoun, you) yǒu (有 verb, have) yī (一 number, one) ge (个 general measure word) yǒuqù de (有 趣 的 yǒu means have, qù means fun or interesting, de is a particle used to connect the attributive and the noun it modifies; yǒuqù de means interesting or fun ) Fùhuójié (复活节 Easter) zhǎo (找 verb, search, look for, find) dàn (蛋 noun, eggs) huódòng (活动 noun, activity).
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/listen-to5.mp3|titles=listen to]
Speaking of Easter, most of you know that the Easter celebration ( 庆 祝 [qìngzhù] ) is based on the Christian (基 督 教 的 [Jīdūjiào de]) belief that Jesus ( 耶 稣 [Yēsū] ) rose after three days of being sealed in a tomb after his crucifixion (钉 死 在十 字 架 上 [dīng sǐ zài shízìjià shàng]). We don’t have a fixed (固 定 的 [gùdìng de]） Easter holiday on the calendar; it is movable （可 动 的［kě dòng de]): the date ( 日 期 [rìqī] ) of Easter is scheduled to be on the first Sunday (星 期 天 [xīngqītiān] ) after the full moon following the northern hemisphere’s vernal / spring equinox (春分 [ chūn fēn ] ). The date of Easter varies between March 22 and April 25. For this year, it will be April 8, 2012.
“Here comes Peter Cottontail
hoppin’ down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Easters on its way!”
(Peter Cottontail By Beatrix Potter)
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/listen-to6.mp3|titles=listen to]
Easter bunnies (小 兔 子 [xiăotùzi] ) are waiting to hop out anytime or waiting to be gobbled down (大 口 吞 下 [dàkŏu tūnxià] ) soon. Yesterday someone left a giant Easter bunny on my desk … Do you know that when people took a bite into a chocolate bunny, 76% of Americans prefer to chew off its ear first, 5% of eaters tore the feet first and 4% of them feast on the tail first. How about you, which part of bunnies catches your attention ( 注 意 [zhùyì] )?
Have you ever read the Easter Bunny poem by M. Josephine Todd? Here it goes:
There’s a story quite funny,
About a toy bunny,
And the wonderful things she can do;
Every bright Easter morning,
Without warning,
She colors eggs, red, green, or blue.
Some she covers with spots,
Some with quaint little dots,
And some with strange mixed colors, too
— Red and green, blue and yellow,
But each unlike its fellow
Are eggs of every hue……..
Why is Easter bunny an important symbol of Easter?
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/listen-to7.mp3|titles=listen to]
In Bible, we can’t find any passage mentioning of this long-eared, short-tailed creature who helps deliver decorated (装 饰 的 ［zhuāngshì de ］）eggs to well-behaved children on Easter Sunday. The origin of this mythical （神 话 中 的 [shénhuà zhōng de] ） Easter bunny is unclear. In order to solve the puzzle, let’s learn a bit about rabbits’ life; maybe we can figure this out later. Do you know that a male rabbit is called a buck, a female rabbit is a doe, and a baby rabbit is a kit? A doe gives birth a litter of kits ranging from one kit to 7 kits or more. The gestation （孕期 ［ yùn qī ］） period for a rabbit is about 31 days. So, compared with human beings, bunnies or rabbits are good producers — super at making babies, and that is why bunnies are an ancient symbol of fertility （生殖力 ［shēngzhílì ］）and new life.
It is said that the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who at that time settled in Pennsylvania and brought to America their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Wow, remember only this kind of mythical bunnies lay eggs, normal bunnies don’t for they are mammals. Those German immigrants’ children made nests for this egg-laying creature so she could lay her colored (彩 色 的 ［cǎisè de］） eggs. Eventually, the fun and colorful custom spread all over the U.S. and the fairy-like rabbit’s Easter morning delivering treat to good girls and good boys’ door expanded to include not only colorful eggs, but also chocolates, candies and all sort of gifts in decorated baskets. To repay the bunny’s generosity, children can put some carrots (胡 萝 卜 [húluóbo] )outside of door for the bunny to enjoy in case she got hungry (饥 饿 的 [jī’è de] ) from all the hopping (跳 [tiào]) and jumping.
Easter eggs are cute to watch for they can be very colorful with different shades of hues like the spring sky. From a Christian perspective, Easter eggs represent Jesus’ emergence from the tomb: resurrection and a new life.
Easter egg decoration is a tradition （传 统 [chuántŏng] ）that dates back to the 13th century （世 纪 [shìjì] ） or even earlier. It is said that in the past, eggs were a forbidden （ 被 禁 止 的 [bèi jìnzhĭ de] ）food during the Lenten season, so people painted and decorated them to mark the end of the period of penance and fasting, and eat the colorful eggs on Easter as a celebration.
Easter Egg Hunting began in America when German immigrants （移 民 [yímín] ）brought their Osterhase tradition to Pennsylvania in the 1700s. Easter egg hunt is an activity that all kids love to participate （参 与 [cānyŭ] ）. Have you ever got told to step out the Easter egg hunting for you are too old? I have heard people said that they didn’t get candies on Halloween for some mean adults thought they were too tall and too old.
Beside hunting for eggs, egg rolling is another popular tradition of Easter. In the U.S., the White House has an annual Easter Egg Roll event, a race in which children can push decorated, hard-boiled eggs across the White House lawn. The event has no religious （宗教上的 ［zōngjiào shàng de ］） significance, however some people thought the egg rolling stands for the stone blocking Jesus’ tomb got rolled away and led to his resurrection.
I hope you have a wonderful Easter Sunday and good time eating eggs or helping with Easter events somewhere to make the kids happy once a year! Let’s conclude today’s Easter post with these two cute bunny songs:)
小兔子乖乖
Schnuffel Bunny – Snuggle Song
Schnuffel Bunny – Snuggle Song lyrics
You are my sweetest love, this love …
I always wanna hug,
because I really love you,
the world just has to know.
I’ll do anything for you,
there is nothing I wouldn’t do.
snuggle, cuddle and then hug me,
with you I always want to be.
la la la la …
My love is deep and true
I’d be lost if not with you
So long it would have been
If not for you and me
I’ll do anything for you,
there is nothing I wouldn’t do.
snuggle, cuddle and then hug me,
with you I always want to be.
la la la la…
Our feelings are so strong
And our hearts will beat as one
Another ending story
Is what I have with you
I’ll do anything for you,
there is nothing I wouldn’t do.
snuggle, cuddle and then hug me,
with you I always want to be.
la la la la…
You are my sweetest love,
this love I always wanna hug, because I really love you,
the world just has to know.
I’ll do anything for you,
there is nothing I wouldn’t do.
snuggle, cuddle and then hug me, with you I always want to be.
