復活節（Easter）是西方的一個重要節日，用來紀念耶穌基督復活（the resurrection of Jesus）。

在西方教會傳統里，春分之后第一次滿月之后的第一個星期日即為復活節。東方教會則規定，如果滿月恰逢星期日，則復活節再推遲一周。因此，節期大致在3月22日至4月25日之間。

在這一天，人們不僅要滾彩蛋，還要吃巧克力兔。復活節為什么要吃巧克力兔呢？這要從復活兔說起了。

As far as holidays go, Easter is second only to Halloween in American candy sales—that’s a lot of chocolate bunnies.

就節假日而言，復活節的糖果銷量在美國僅次于萬圣節：其中有很多是巧克力兔。

Easter—the most spiritually significant holiday of the Christian calendar—has always been heavily associated with symbolic foods, from lambs to egg-rich celebratory breads. Rabbits, however, are not mentioned in the scriptures that recount Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. And chocolate, a New World food, was not even accessible to the masses until the mid-1800s. So how did chocolate bunnies come to dominate the Easter basket scene? It’s a thoroughly modern mash-up of commerce, confectionery, and immigration.

復活節在基督教歷法中是最具有精神象征意義的節日，它一直與象征性的食物緊密聯系，從羊羔肉到放很多雞蛋的復活節面包。然而，在圣經中描述耶穌受難到復活的文字里并沒有提到兔子。巧克力作為一種新世界的食物，直到19世紀中葉才廣泛供應給民眾。那么巧克力兔是如何占據復活節食籃的呢？這是現代商業、糖果和移民混合作用的結果。

The observance of Easter includes some elements adapted from pagan traditions celebrating cycles of new life in the springtime, and one of those is the rabbit, an animal known for its crazy-high fertility.

復活節的慶祝活動汲取了異教徒慶祝春天開始新生命輪回的一些傳統元素，其中之一就是兔子，一種以高繁殖能力著稱的動物。

pagan['peg?n]: adj. 異教的；異教徒的

Ostara, the Germanic pre-Christian fertility goddess, apparently kept a hare as a sidekick. The word for “Easter” (Ostern, in German) is derived from her name, and her namesake festival was held around April. Germans came to embrace the fictional character Oschter Haws (or osterhause), a rabbit who delivered eggs to children at Easter.

奧斯塔拉（Ostara）作為前基督教時代日耳曼民族的生育女神，養了一只野兔作為伙伴。復活節這個名詞就是來源于她的名字（在德語里是Ostern），她的同名節日大概在四月份舉行。后來德國人開始接納虛構的角色“復活兔”，這是一只在復活節給孩子們送雞蛋的兔子。

sidekick['sa?dk?k]: n. 伙伴，老朋友

The Easter Bunny Museum in the now-defunct Center for Unusual Museums in Munich showcased examples of 19th century Easter rabbits made of cardboard, wood, or fabric, and some had removable heads to allow for hiding candy inside (these would be the forerunners to chocolate bunnies).

位于慕尼黑的復活節兔子博物館（該博物館所屬的特殊博物館中心現已關閉）展示了一些19世紀復活節兔子的樣例，這些兔子由紙板、木頭或布制成，有些兔子的頭部是可以拆卸的，可以把糖果藏在里面。這些兔子可能是巧克力兔的前身。

At the same time, the middle classes of the Western world began enjoying the chocolaty fruits of progress. The Industrial Revolution changed chocolate from a costly drink to a cheap solid food. The craft of making the smooth-textured solid chocolate we’re familiar with today requires many steps, and those were not possible without mechanization; the first eating (as opposed to drinking) chocolates appeared in Europe in the mid-1800s.

與此同時，西方中產階級開始享受巧克力這一社會進步的果實。工業革命將巧克力從一種昂貴的飲品變為廉價的固體食品。制作我們今天所熟悉的質地絲滑的固體巧克力需要很多步驟，沒有機械化是不可能實現的。第一批能吃（而不是喝）的巧克力19世紀中期出現在歐洲。

The chocolate bunny had yet to cross the Atlantic, though. The Pennsylvania Dutch imported the Oschter Haws, or Easter Hare, who delivered colored eggs to good children. One of the better-known early sightings of chocolate rabbits in America was in 1890, when Pennsylvania shopkeeper Robert L. Strohecker featured a five-foot chocolate rabbit in his drugstore to attract business at Easter. And after that long journey, chocolate rabbits of more manageable proportions eventually became an Easter staple.

不過當時巧克力兔還沒有橫渡大西洋。賓夕法尼亞州的殖民者引進了復活兔的概念，也就是會給好孩子送彩蛋的兔子。復活節兔早期在美國最著名的一件事是1890年賓夕法尼亞州的商人羅伯特·L·施特羅埃克爾在他的雜貨店里擺了一只5英尺（約合1.52米）高的巧克力兔子在復活節招攬生意。經過長期的發展，巧克力兔的尺寸變得更加合適，最終成為了復活節的一種主要食品。

來源：Mental Floss、煎蛋網

編譯：丹妮