Monday 1 April 2013

OK - well it is me again.  Gisèle.  Jasper says that I have to write this by my self and he is not going to check it.  He say s that I have been very good and clever in my lessons of writing and reading with him and that he is trusting me to write something good.

But I am scared.  What if I write this and everyone thinks that I am stupid and not as good as Jasper?  I KNOW that people don't love me as well as they loved Jasper.  I write an article for a magazine last month and all they say is that I am stepping into Jasper's paw-steps.  I can't ever be Jasper - I have not got a willie for one thing, but a lady's fou-fou instead.  But actually I am glad about that.  I am glad I have only got a lady's fou-fou - look at what a not-neutered male has got!  I am a busy girl.  I do not have the time to deals with all of that equipment every time I wants to sit or lie down.  Far too much unnecessary business and, I might add, very inconvenient for a busy dog about town.  No.  I am glad I am a girl.  Yes.

Anyway.  Here is the article that was in last month's magazine from me, all about eggs and Easter.  I hope you like it.  If you don't, blame Jasper and not me because of he made me put it here for you to see:

I’ve always enjoyed a tasty egg.  Boiled, scrambled, fried, baked or poached with a bit of watercress on top - it’s a little bit of joy in a shell.  But I’ve often wondered about the intrinsic connection of eggs with Easter.  As far as I can tell, Jesus and his companions were very fond of fish and bread, olives, the odd fig or two, all washed down with some good wine.  But there are few mentions of a particular penchant for all things eggy.  So why is it now virtually impossible to picture Easter without the flash of a gaudily-wrapped egg creeping in there somewhere?  It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with chocolate.

Dipping my toastie-soldier into the rich yolk of history, therefore, I find that the early Mesopotamian Christians (we’re going back to before 410AD here) had a custom of dyeing and decorating eggs at Easter. They were stained red, in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at His crucifixion.

Symbolically, the humble egg also represents life from seeming death.  The outside of the egg looks cold and dead but inside there is new life, which is going to break out (unless unfertilised - but even then the cooked egg within brings life and sustenance to the hungry). The Easter egg is a visible reminder that Jesus will rise from His tomb and bring new life and/or nourishment to all who seek it.

There is an additional legend (make of this what you will) that Mary Magdalene, following the Ascension of Christ, continued doing her utmost to promote the Gospel and found herself having an audience with Caesar.  She told him that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, whereupon the Roman Emperor pointed to an egg on his table and stated, "Christ has no more risen than that egg is red." After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red.

In 1610 the Christian Church officially adopted the egg as the symbol of Easter, Pope Paul V proclaiming the following prayer:

Bless, O Lord! we beseech thee, this thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to thee on account of the resurrection of the Lord.

I like these stories - infinitely preferable to the cynical attempts by sweet-manufacturers to sell overpriced chocolate simply because it is egg-shaped.  I would rather have a traditional hen’s egg.  Although I’d probably steer clear of any green ones...

Gisèle the Parson Jack Russell Terrier

N.B.  Given the present scandals within the food industry, there is no truth in the rumour that traces of sea-horse have been found in fish-fingers...

Bye-bye until later,

Love, Gisèle x