Gift Rap: Filling Your Eostre Basket

She was called Ostern, Ostara or Eostre; Easter is named after her. She was the pre-Christian goddess of spring throughout Northern Europe, and her festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox. Our Easter holiday is still set by the equinox: It is the Sunday after the first full moon of spring.

Everywhere this season we see Easter eggs and Easter bunnies. It's no coincidence. These eggs and rabbits have symbolized the renewal of life in spring since Eostre's time.

It's satisfying to take part in the traditions we've inherited and pass them on, so have fun filling and giving an Easter basket this year, whether it's for a child, a friend, a grandparent or a spouse.

What You Need
But first you need a basket. Go to import stores for the largest assortment, but just about every kind of store carries them now too. Get "grass" for the basket bottom and perhaps a roll of colored cellophane for wrapping the basket up. Baskets come in many shapes and sizes. Some are so small that they only hold one egg, while others will hold dozens. Wide baskets are better for displaying an array of contents; deep ones allow for more rummaging through for surprises.

Get Decorating!
Now that you have a basket, you need to decorate your Easter eggs.

When you color your eggs, you're carrying on a tradition that's thousands of years old. Eggs were dyed and exchanged at the spring festivals in ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome, and have been ever since.

Whether you dye eggs in beet juice and onion skins as my grandfather did, or you use those fizzy tablets and vinegar, family or fiends are almost always willing to help. Decorate each egg specially for the person you'll give it to, or paint his or her name on it in fancy letters.

Easter candy goes into the basket along with the colored eggs. Use a small amount of high-quality candy and fill out the basket with some of the goodies suggested below. You can make a little candy go a long way. Buy an Easter mix and sort by kinds and colors into plastic eggs, small tins or boxes in interesting shapes. My Easter favorites include foil-covered rabbits, popcorn bunnies, marshmallow chicks and cream-filled chocolate eggs.

Now for the jelly beans. Jelly Belly beans, made of fruit and pectin, are the gourmet version. They taste better and they cost more, but a handful of these is worth a pound of the super-sugary ones. The Jelly Belly beans come in exotic flavors. l like mango, papaya, guava, cream soda, root beer, green apple, watermelon and strawberry. There's also chocolate banana and ice blue mint. Truly an embarrassment of riches.

Small Gifts
So what should you tuck in around the eggs and candy? An older child or adult might like a wildflower guide, a little camera, or a tray of water colors. Sporty types might like a map or booklet of local trails or a ball of some sort (baseball, tennis ball, croquet ball or plain bouncing ball). Include some small items for warm weather activities like gardening, camping, picnics or traveling. Your basket could even hold a tiny pot of flowers or a small spring bouquet.

Give an Easter basket filled with hot cross buns (these buns originated as cakes to honor the Goddess Eostre, but when the clergy couldn't stop their use, they marked them with a cross and gave them their blessing). Or fill a basket with strawberries or cheeses. Cookies shaped like rabbits, eggs or chicks are another option.

There are tiny paperbacks and picture books (like Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit") to put in an Easter basket, as well as small writing pads, playing cards, puzzles, colored chalk and story tapes. Or include a bunny, goose or chick in the form of a wind-up toy or figurine.

A yellow rubber duck is also at home in an Easter basket, along with soap shaped like animals or shells. Or put in bubble bath and a bubble wand. Hair ribbons, barrettes, a watch or action figures can also please. Or an outside toy: a pail and shovel, a balsa glider, jacks, a kite, jump rope or a watering can and seeds. Hide a new toothbrush (the antidote to all that candy) under the basket grass. Wrap a few things in pastel tissue for the pleasure of opening them.

A small doll or stuffed animal also fits nicely into an Easter basket. In toy stores you'll find every imaginable creature stuffed and furry, from pandas to penguins. But the stars of the season are, of course, the lambs, the chicks and the bunnies.

No matter what's in your basket, Easter marks the day we put winter behind us. Spring begins and we start afresh, renewed. Like all gifts, an Easter basket expresses our bond with someone we love. It's a part of our ancient celebration of Spring.

Have Easter fun on the web.

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