On Easter Sunday, two time-honored rituals rush headlong into each other. In households that are Christian and filled with small children, there is the generational debate about which comes first -- attending the early "sunrise service" that celebrates the dawn of Jesus' resurrection, or scampering about the house look- ing for celluloid "grass" nests filled with brightly colored eggs and candy treats.
Did you ever stop to think how the "secular" customs surrounding Easter are truly bizarre? First, there is the Easter Bunny himself. A big male rabbit that carries nests of eggs. Yes, rabbits are extremely good at carrying out that "be fruitful and multiply" mandate. And yes, eggs are perfect, encapsulated symbols of new life to come. But rabbits don't lay eggs or make nests. Especially male rabbits.
Sociologist Cindy Dell Clark has researched what she calls the "trinity" of characters in children's most important ritual systems -- Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy....
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