SITTING RABBIT GARDENER FIGURE 18" Easter bunny starched fabric textured Spring

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 195568734879 SITTING RABBIT GARDENER FIGURE 18" Easter bunny starched fabric textured Spring. Check out my other new & used items>>>>>>HERE! (click me) FOR SALE: A textually unique, semi-posable Easter decoration 18" EASTER GARDENER BUNNY STUFFED FIGURE DETAILS: Hand made and adorably refined! Celebrate Easter time by adding an exceptionally neat hand crafted decoration to your home decor. The "Shelf Sitting Bunny" is a cute stuffed critter, with starched fabric, that was made to sit upon a mantle or shelf in your decorated dwelling. The lower half of the "Shelf Sitting Bunny" is stuffed in a way that makes sitting uncomplicated - the stiffened (starched) fabric helps. A variety of textures have been thoughtfully incorporated in the composition of this texturally unique stuffed decorative figure. You'll notice a soft cotton fabric, straw hat, starched fabric, hardened textured plush material, stitches, embroidery, plastic, hard beads, and painted styrofoam. This Spring time home decoration also features a gardening theme as the bunny has donned their blue colored gardening getup. The charming hare is wearing the cutest white gardening apron over a blue and white gingham pattern top with printed icons of foods, flowers, and home items, and ankle ties that match the top. Solid sky blue pants and macthing bowtie with white stitches, and the most adorable sun hat completes the look. A fabric stiffener has been used on the bowtie, apron, and pants. The head, hands, feet, and ears have also had a stiffening agent applied to them but they have a different, harder feel. The face features dark blue hard plastic bead eyes and a pink colored embroidered nose and mouth. The tools are made of plastic while the carrots are comprised of styrofoam and plastic. A must-have for bunny fanatics! For fans of all things Easter and rabbit, especially those who love gardening and decorative figures. Makes a great gift! CONDITION: In very good, pre-owned condition. The hand held carrot has some visible wear. Please see photos. *To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.*  THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Easter,[nb 1] also called Pascha[nb 2] (Aramaic, Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday,[nb 3] is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.[12][13] It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus Christ, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week, which in Western Christianity begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem), includes Spy Wednesday (on which the betrayal of Jesus is mourned),[14] and contains the days of the Easter Triduum including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper,[15][16] as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus.[17] In Eastern Christianity, the same days and events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with "Holy" or "Holy and Great"; and Easter itself might be called "Great and Holy Pascha", "Easter Sunday", "Pascha" or "Sunday of Pascha". In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the Paschal season ends with Pentecost as well, but the leave-taking of the Great Feast of Pascha is on the 39th day, the day before the Feast of the Ascension. Easter and its related holidays are moveable feasts, not falling on a fixed date; its date is computed based on a lunisolar calendar (solar year plus Moon phase) similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established only two rules, namely independence from the Hebrew calendar and worldwide uniformity. No details for the computation were specified; these were worked out in practice, a process that took centuries and generated a number of controversies. It has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March.[18] Even if calculated on the basis of the more accurate Gregorian calendar, the date of that full moon sometimes differs from that of the astronomical first full moon after the March equinox.[19] The English term is derived from the Saxon spring festival Ēostre; Easter is also linked to the Jewish Passover by its name (Hebrew: פֶּסַח pesach, Aramaic: פָּסחָא pascha are the basis of the term Pascha), by its origin (according to the synoptic Gospels, both the crucifixion and the resurrection took place during the week of Passover)[20][21] and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages, both the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover are called by the same name; and in the older English versions of the Bible, as well, the term Easter was used to translate Passover.[22] Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, midnight vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, clipping the church (England),[23] decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs (a symbol of the empty tomb).[24][25][26] The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity,[27][28] traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide.[29] Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include Easter parades, communal dancing (Eastern Europe), the Easter Bunny and egg hunting.[30][31][32][33][34] There are also traditional Easter foods that vary by region and culture. Etymology Main articles: Ēostre and Names of Easter The modern English term Easter, cognate with modern Dutch ooster and German Ostern, developed from an Old English word that usually appears in the form Ēastrun, -on, or -an; but also as Ēastru, -o; and Ēastre or Ēostre.[nb 4] Bede provides the only documentary source for the etymology of the word, in his eighth-century The Reckoning of Time. He wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English 'Month of Ēostre', translated in Bede's time as "Paschal month") was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month".[35] In Latin and Greek, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Pascha (Greek: Πάσχα), a word derived from Aramaic פסחא (Paskha), cognate to Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesach). The word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt.[36][37] As early as the 50s of the 1st century, Paul the Apostle, writing from Ephesus to the Christians in Corinth,[38] applied the term to Christ, and it is unlikely that the Ephesian and Corinthian Christians were the first to hear Exodus 12 interpreted as speaking about the death of Jesus, not just about the Jewish Passover ritual.[39] In most languages, Germanic languages such as English being exceptions, the feast is known by names derived from Greek and Latin Pascha.[9][40] Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in the Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration.[41] Others call the holiday "Resurrection Sunday" or "Resurrection Day," after the Greek: Ἀνάστασις, romanized: Anastasis, lit. 'Resurrection' day.[10][11][42][43] Theological significance Easter celebrates Jesus' supernatural resurrection from the dead, which is one of the chief tenets of the Christian faith.[44] The resurrection established Jesus as the Son of God and is cited as proof that God will righteously judge the world.[45] Paul writes that, for those who trust in Jesus's death and resurrection, "death is swallowed up in victory." The First Epistle of Peter declares that God has given believers "a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". Christian theology holds that, through faith in the working of God, those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation, and can hope to be physically resurrected to dwell with him in the Kingdom of Heaven.[45] Easter is linked to Passover and the Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings, and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection.[40] According to the three Synoptic Gospels, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the upper room during the Last Supper he prepared himself and his disciples for his death.[40] He identified the bread and cup of wine as his body, soon to be sacrificed, and his blood, soon to be shed. The Apostle Paul states, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. This refers to the requirement in Jewish law that Jews eliminate all chametz, or leavening, from their homes in advance of Passover, and to the allegory of Jesus as the Paschal lamb.[46][47] Early Christianity The Last Supper celebrated by Jesus and his disciples. The early Christians, too, would have celebrated this meal to commemorate Jesus's death and subsequent resurrection. As the Gospels affirm that both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus during the week of Passover, the first Christians timed the observance of the annual celebration of the resurrections in relation to Passover.[48] Direct evidence for a more fully formed Christian festival of Pascha (Easter) begins to appear in the mid-2nd century. Perhaps the earliest extant primary source referring to Easter is a mid-2nd-century Paschal homily attributed to Melito of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one.[49] Evidence for another kind of annually recurring Christian festival, those commemorating the martyrs, began to appear at about the same time as the above homily.[50] While martyrs' days (usually the individual dates of martyrdom) were celebrated on fixed dates in the local solar calendar, the date of Easter was fixed by means of the local Jewish[51] lunisolar calendar. This is consistent with the celebration of Easter having entered Christianity during its earliest, Jewish, period, but does not leave the question free of doubt.[52] The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of pre-Christian custom, "just as many other customs have been established", stating that neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. Although he describes the details of the Easter celebration as deriving from local custom, he insists the feast itself is universally observed.[53] Date A stained-glass window depicting the Passover Lamb, a concept integral to the foundation of Easter[40][54] Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars (both of which follow the cycle of the sun and the seasons). Instead, the date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the only rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the Council. No details for the computation were specified; these were worked out in practice, a process that took centuries and generated a number of controversies. (See also Computus and Reform of the date of Easter.) In particular, the Council did not decree that Easter must fall on Sunday, but this was already the practice almost everywhere.[55][incomplete short citation] In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April,[56] within about seven days after the astronomical full moon.[57] The following day, Easter Monday, is a legal holiday in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions.[58] Eastern Orthodox Christians base Paschal date calculations on the Julian Calendar. Because of the thirteen-day difference between the calendars between 1900 and 2099, 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian Calendar. Since the Julian calendar is no longer used as the civil calendar of the countries where Eastern Christian traditions predominate, Easter varies between 4 April and 8 May in the Gregorian calendar. Also, because the Julian "full moon" is always several days after the astronomical full moon, the eastern Easter is often later, relative to the visible lunar phases, than western Easter.[59] Among the Oriental Orthodox, some churches have changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and the date for Easter, as for other fixed and moveable feasts, is the same as in the Western church.[60] Computations Main article: Date of Easter In 725, Bede succinctly wrote, "The Sunday following the full Moon which falls on or after the equinox will give the lawful Easter."[61] However, this does not precisely reflect the ecclesiastical rules. The full moon referred to (called the Paschal full moon) is not an astronomical full moon, but the 14th day of a lunar month. Another difference is that the astronomical equinox is a natural astronomical phenomenon, which can fall on 19, 20 or 21 March,[62] while the ecclesiastical date is fixed by convention on 21 March.[63] In applying the ecclesiastical rules, Christian churches use 21 March as the starting point in determining the date of Easter, from which they find the next full moon, etc. The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches continue to use the Julian calendar. Their starting point in determining the date of Orthodox Easter is also 21 March but according to the Julian reckoning, which in the current century corresponds to 3 April in the Gregorian calendar.[citation needed] In addition, the lunar tables of the Julian calendar are currently five days behind those of the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the Julian computation of the Paschal full moon is a full five days later than the astronomical full moon. The result of this combination of solar and lunar discrepancies is divergence in the date of Easter in most years (see table).[64] Easter is determined on the basis of lunisolar cycles. The lunar year consists of 30-day and 29-day lunar months, generally alternating, with an embolismic month added periodically to bring the lunar cycle into line with the solar cycle. In each solar year (1 January to 31 December inclusive), the lunar month beginning with an ecclesiastical new moon falling in the 29-day period from 8 March to 5 April inclusive is designated as the paschal lunar month for that year.[65] Easter is the third Sunday in the paschal lunar month, or, in other words, the Sunday after the paschal lunar month's 14th day. The 14th of the paschal lunar month is designated by convention as the Paschal full moon, although the 14th of the lunar month may differ from the date of the astronomical full moon by up to two days.[65] Since the ecclesiastical new moon falls on a date from 8 March to 5 April inclusive, the paschal full moon (the 14th of that lunar month) must fall on a date from 22 March to 18 April inclusive.[64] The Gregorian calculation of Easter was based on a method devised by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius (or Lilio) for adjusting the epacts of the Moon,[66] and has been adopted by almost all Western Christians and by Western countries which celebrate national holidays at Easter. For the British Empire and colonies, a determination of the date of Easter Sunday using Golden Numbers and Sunday letters was defined by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 with its Annexe. This was designed to match exactly the Gregorian calculation.[citation needed] Controversies over the date Main article: Easter controversy A five-part Russian Orthodox icon depicting the Easter story. Eastern Orthodox Christians use a different computation for the date of Easter than the Western churches. The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter of contention. By the later 2nd century, it was widely accepted that the celebration of the holiday was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition. The Quartodeciman controversy, the first of several Easter controversies, arose concerning the date on which the holiday should be celebrated.[citation needed] The term "Quartodeciman" refers to the practice of ending the Lenten fast on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew calendar, "the LORD's passover".[67] According to the church historian Eusebius, the Quartodeciman Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna, by tradition a disciple of John the Apostle) debated the question with Anicetus (bishop of Rome). The Roman province of Asia was Quartodeciman, while the Roman and Alexandrian churches continued the fast until the Sunday following (the Sunday of Unleavened Bread), wishing to associate Easter with Sunday. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus persuaded the other, but they did not consider the matter schismatic either, parting in peace and leaving the question unsettled.[citation needed] Controversy arose when Victor, bishop of Rome a generation after Anicetus, attempted to excommunicate Polycrates of Ephesus and all other bishops of Asia for their Quartodecimanism. According to Eusebius, a number of synods were convened to deal with the controversy, which he regarded as all ruling in support of Easter on Sunday.[68] Polycrates (circa 190), however, wrote to Victor defending the antiquity of Asian Quartodecimanism. Victor's attempted excommunication was apparently rescinded, and the two sides reconciled upon the intervention of bishop Irenaeus and others, who reminded Victor of the tolerant precedent of Anicetus.[citation needed] Quartodecimanism seems to have lingered into the 4th century, when Socrates of Constantinople recorded that some Quartodecimans were deprived of their churches by John Chrysostom[69] and that some were harassed by Nestorius.[70] It is not known how long the Nisan 14 practice continued. But both those who followed the Nisan 14 custom, and those who set Easter to the following Sunday, had in common the custom of consulting their Jewish neighbors to learn when the month of Nisan would fall, and setting their festival accordingly. By the later 3rd century, however, some Christians began to express dissatisfaction with the custom of relying on the Jewish community to determine the date of Easter. The chief complaint was that the Jewish communities sometimes erred in setting Passover to fall before the Northern Hemisphere spring equinox.[71][72] The Sardica paschal table[73] confirms these complaints, for it indicates that the Jews of some eastern Mediterranean city (possibly Antioch) fixed Nisan 14 on dates well before the spring equinox on multiple occasions.[74] Because of this dissatisfaction with reliance on the Jewish calendar, some Christians began to experiment with independent computations.[nb 5] Others, however, believed that the customary practice of consulting Jews should continue, even if the Jewish computations were in error.[citation needed] First Council of Nicaea (325 AD) Main article: First Council of Nicaea This controversy between those who advocated independent computations, and those who wished to continue the custom of relying on the Jewish calendar, was formally resolved by the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which endorsed changing to an independent computation by the Christian community in order to celebrate in common. This effectively required the abandonment of the old custom of consulting the Jewish community in those places where it was still used. Epiphanius of Salamis wrote in the mid-4th century:     the emperor ... convened a council of 318 bishops ... in the city of Nicaea ... They passed certain ecclesiastical canons at the council besides, and at the same time decreed in regard to the Passover [i.e., Easter] that there must be one unanimous concord on the celebration of God's holy and supremely excellent day. For it was variously observed by people; some kept it early, some between [the disputed dates], but others late. And in a word, there was a great deal of controversy at that time.[77] Canons[78] and sermons[79] condemning the custom of computing Easter's date based on the Jewish calendar indicate that this custom (called "protopaschite" by historians) did not die out at once, but persisted for a time after the Council of Nicaea. Dionysius Exiguus, and others following him, maintained that the 318 bishops assembled at Nicaea had specified a particular method of determining the date of Easter; subsequent scholarship has refuted this tradition.[80] In any case, in the years following the council, the computational system that was worked out by the church of Alexandria came to be normative. The Alexandrian system, however, was not immediately adopted throughout Christian Europe. Following Augustalis' treatise De ratione Paschae (On the Measurement of Easter), Rome retired the earlier 8-year cycle in favor of Augustalis' 84-year lunisolar calendar cycle, which it used until 457. It then switched to Victorius of Aquitaine's adaptation of the Alexandrian system.[81][82] Because this Victorian cycle differed from the unmodified Alexandrian cycle in the dates of some of the Paschal Full Moons, and because it tried to respect the Roman custom of fixing Easter to the Sunday in the week of the 16th to the 22nd of the lunar month (rather than the 15th to the 21st as at Alexandria), by providing alternative "Latin" and "Greek" dates in some years, occasional differences in the date of Easter as fixed by Alexandrian rules continued.[81][82] The Alexandrian rules were adopted in the West following the tables of Dionysius Exiguus in 525.[citation needed] Early Christians in Britain and Ireland also used an 84-year cycle. From the 5th century onward this cycle set its equinox to 25 March and fixed Easter to the Sunday falling in the 14th to the 20th of the lunar month inclusive.[83][84] This 84-year cycle was replaced by the Alexandrian method in the course of the 7th and 8th centuries. Churches in western continental Europe used a late Roman method until the late 8th century during the reign of Charlemagne, when they finally adopted the Alexandrian method. Since 1582, when the Roman Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian calendar while most of Europe used the Julian calendar, the date on which Easter is celebrated has again differed.[85] The Greek island of Syros, whose population is divided almost equally between Catholics and Orthodox, is one of the few places where the two Churches share a common date for Easter, with the Catholics accepting the Orthodox date—a practice helping considerably in maintaining good relations between the two communities.[86] Conversely, Orthodox Christians in Finland celebrate Easter according to the Western Christian date.[87] Reform of the date See also: Reform of the date of Easter The congregation lighting their candles from the new flame, just as the priest has retrieved it from the altar – note that the picture is flash-illuminated; all electric lighting is off, and only the oil lamps in front of the Iconostasis remain lit. (St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Adelaide). In the 20th century, some individuals and institutions have propounded changing the method of calculating the date for Easter, the most prominent proposal being the Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Despite having some support, proposals to reform the date have not been implemented.[88] An Orthodox congress of Eastern Orthodox bishops, which included representatives mostly from the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Serbian Patriarch, met in Constantinople in 1923, where the bishops agreed to the Revised Julian calendar.[89] The original form of this calendar would have determined Easter using precise astronomical calculations based on the meridian of Jerusalem.[90][91] However, all the Eastern Orthodox countries that subsequently adopted the Revised Julian calendar adopted only that part of the revised calendar that applied to festivals falling on fixed dates in the Julian calendar. The revised Easter computation that had been part of the original 1923 agreement was never permanently implemented in any Orthodox diocese.[89] In the United Kingdom, Parliament passed the Easter Act 1928 to change the date of Easter to be the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April (or, in other words, the Sunday in the period from 9 to 15 April). However, the legislation has not been implemented, although it remains on the Statute book and could be implemented, subject to approval by the various Christian churches.[92] At a summit in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997, the World Council of Churches (WCC) proposed a reform in the calculation of Easter which would have replaced the present divergent practices of calculating Easter with modern scientific knowledge taking into account actual astronomical instances of the spring equinox and full moon based on the meridian of Jerusalem, while also following the tradition of Easter being on the Sunday following the full moon.[93] The recommended World Council of Churches changes would have sidestepped the calendar issues and eliminated the difference in date between the Eastern and Western churches. The reform was proposed for implementation starting in 2001, and despite repeated calls for reform, it was not ultimately adopted by any member body.[94][95] In January 2016, the Anglican Communion, Coptic Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Church, and Roman Catholic Church again considered agreeing on a common, universal date for Easter, while also simplifying the calculation of that date, with either the second or third Sunday in April being popular choices.[96] In November 2022, the Patriarch of Constantinople said that conversations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches had begun to determine a common date for the celebration of Easter. The agreement is expected to be reached for the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.[97] Table of the dates of Easter by Gregorian and Julian calendars See also: List of dates for Easter The WCC presented comparative data of the relationships: Table of dates of Easter 2001–2025 (in Gregorian dates)[98] Year     Full Moon     Jewish Passover [note 1]     Astronomical Easter [note 2]     Gregorian Easter     Julian Easter 2001     8 April     15 April 2002     28 March     31 March     5 May 2003     16 April     17 April     20 April     27 April 2004     5 April     6 April     11 April 2005     25 March     24 April     27 March     1 May 2006     13 April     16 April     23 April 2007     2 April     3 April     8 April 2008     21 March     20 April     23 March     27 April 2009     9 April     12 April     19 April 2010     30 March     4 April 2011     18 April     19 April     24 April 2012     6 April     7 April     8 April     15 April 2013     27 March     26 March     31 March     5 May 2014     15 April     20 April 2015     4 April     5 April     12 April 2016     23 March     23 April     27 March     1 May 2017     11 April     16 April 2018     31 March     1 April     8 April 2019     20 March     20 April     24 March     21 April     28 April 2020     8 April     9 April     12 April     19 April 2021     28 March     4 April     2 May 2022     16 April     17 April     24 April 2023     6 April     9 April     16 April 2024     25 March     23 April     31 March     5 May 2025     13 April     20 April Jewish Passover is on Nisan 15 of its calendar. It commences at sunset preceding the date indicated (as does Easter in many traditions).     Astronomical Easter is the first Sunday after the astronomical full moon after the astronomical March equinox as measured at the meridian of Jerusalem according to this WCC proposal. Position in the church year Further information: Liturgical year Western Christianity Easter and other named days and day ranges around Lent and Easter in Western Christianity, with the fasting days of Lent numbered In most branches of Western Christianity, Easter is preceded by Lent, a period of penitence that begins on Ash Wednesday, lasts 40 days (not counting Sundays), and is often marked with fasting. The week before Easter, known as Holy Week, is an important time for observers to commemorate the final week of Jesus' life on earth.[99] The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday, with the Wednesday before Easter being known as Spy Wednesday (or Holy Wednesday). The last three days before Easter are Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (sometimes referred to as Silent Saturday).[100] Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday respectively commemorate Jesus's entry in Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the crucifixion. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are sometimes referred to as the Easter Triduum (Latin for "Three Days"). Many churches begin celebrating Easter late in the evening of Holy Saturday at a service called the Easter Vigil. The week beginning with Easter Sunday is called Easter Week or the Octave of Easter, and each day is prefaced with "Easter", e.g. Easter Monday (a public holiday in many countries), Easter Tuesday (a much less widespread public holiday), etc. Easter Saturday is therefore the Saturday after Easter Sunday. The day before Easter is properly called Holy Saturday. Eastertide, or Paschaltide, the season of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until the day of Pentecost, seven weeks later. Eastern Christianity In Eastern Christianity, the spiritual preparation for Easter/Pascha begins with Great Lent, which starts on Clean Monday and lasts for 40 continuous days (including Sundays). Great Lent ends on a Friday, and the next day is Lazarus Saturday. The Vespers which begins Lazarus Saturday officially brings Great Lent to a close, although the fast continues through the following week, i.e. Holy Week. After Lazarus Saturday comes Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and finally Easter/Pascha itself, and the fast is broken immediately after the Paschal Divine Liturgy.[citation needed] The Paschal Vigil begins with the Midnight Office, which is the last service of the Lenten Triodion and is timed so that it ends a little before midnight on Holy Saturday night. At the stroke of midnight the Paschal celebration itself begins, consisting of Paschal Matins, Paschal Hours, and Paschal Divine Liturgy.[101] The liturgical season from Easter to the Sunday of All Saints (the Sunday after Pentecost) is known as the Pentecostarion (the "50 days"). The week which begins on Easter Sunday is called Bright Week, during which there is no fasting, even on Wednesday and Friday. The Afterfeast of Easter lasts 39 days, with its Apodosis (leave-taking) on the day before the Feast of the Ascension. Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day from Easter (counted inclusively).[102] In the Pentecostarion published by Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, the Great Feast Pentecost is noted in the synaxarion portion of Matins to be the 8th Sunday of Pascha. However, the Paschal greeting of "Christ is risen!" is no longer exchanged among the faithful after the Apodosis of Pascha. Liturgical observance The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, fresco by Piero della Francesca, 1463 Western Christianity The Easter festival is kept in many different ways among Western Christians. The traditional, liturgical observation of Easter, as practised among Roman Catholics, Lutherans,[103] and some Anglicans begins on the night of Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil which follows an ancient liturgy involving symbols of light, candles and water and numerous readings form the Old and New Testament.[104] Services continue on Easter Sunday and in a number of countries on Easter Monday. In parishes of the Moravian Church, as well as some other denominations such as the Methodist Churches, there is a tradition of Easter Sunrise Services[105] often starting in cemeteries[106] in remembrance of the biblical narrative in the Gospels, or other places in the open where the sunrise is visible.[107] In some traditions, Easter services typically begin with the Paschal greeting: "Christ is risen!" The response is: "He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"[108] Eastern Christianity Icon of the Resurrection by an unknown 17th-century Bulgarian artist Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholics and Byzantine Rite Lutherans have a similar emphasis on Easter in their calendars, and many of their liturgical customs are very similar.[109] Preparation for Easter begins with the season of Great Lent, which begins on Clean Monday.[110] While the end of Lent is Lazarus Saturday, fasting does not end until Easter Sunday.[111] The Orthodox service begins late Saturday evening, observing the Jewish tradition that evening is the start of liturgical holy days.[111] The church is darkened, then the priest lights a candle at midnight, representing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Altar servers light additional candles, with a procession which moves three times around the church to represent the three days in the tomb.[111] The service continues early into Sunday morning, with a feast to end the fasting. An additional service is held later that day on Easter Sunday.[111] Non-observing Christian groups Many Puritans saw traditional feasts of the established Anglican Church, such as All Saints' Day and Easter, as abominations because the Bible does not mention them.[112][113] Conservative Reformed denominations such as the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America likewise reject the celebration of Easter as a violation of the regulative principle of worship and what they see as its non-Scriptural origin.[114][115] Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), as part of their historic testimony against times and seasons, do not celebrate or observe Easter or any traditional feast days of the established Church, believing instead that "every day is the Lord's Day," and that elevation of one day above others suggests that it is acceptable to do un-Christian acts on other days.[116][117] During the 17th and 18th centuries, Quakers were persecuted for this non-observance of Holy Days.[118] Groups such as the Restored Church of God reject the celebration of Easter, seeing it as originating in a pagan spring festival adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.[119][non-primary source needed] Jehovah's Witnesses maintain a similar view, observing a yearly commemorative service of the Last Supper and the subsequent execution of Christ on the evening of Nisan 14 (as they calculate the dates derived from the lunar Hebrew calendar). It is commonly referred to by many Witnesses as simply "The Memorial". Jehovah's Witnesses believe that such verses as Luke 22:19–20 and 1 Corinthians 11:26 constitute a commandment to remember the death of Christ though not the resurrection.[120][non-primary source needed] Easter celebrations around the world Main article: Easter customs In countries where Christianity is a state religion, or those with large Christian populations, Easter is often a public holiday. As Easter always falls on a Sunday, many countries in the world also recognize Easter Monday as a public holiday. Some retail stores, shopping malls, and restaurants are closed on Easter Sunday. Good Friday, which occurs two days before Easter Sunday, is also a public holiday in many countries, as well as in 12 U.S. states. Even in states where Good Friday is not a holiday, many financial institutions, stock markets, and public schools are closed - the few banks that are normally open on regular Sundays are closed on Easter.[citation needed] Boris Kustodiev's Pascha Greetings (1912) shows traditional Russian khristosovanie (exchanging a triple kiss), with such foods as red eggs, kulich and paskha in the background. In the Nordic countries Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday are public holidays,[121] and Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays.[122] In Denmark, Iceland and Norway Maundy Thursday is also a public holiday. It is a holiday for most workers, except those operating some shopping malls which keep open for a half-day. Many businesses give their employees almost a week off, called Easter break.[123] Schools are closed between Palm Sunday and Easter Monday. According to a 2014 poll, 6 of 10 Norwegians travel during Easter, often to a countryside cottage; 3 of 10 said their typical Easter included skiing.[124] In the Netherlands both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are national holidays. Like first and second Christmas Day, they are both considered Sundays, which results in a first and a second Easter Sunday, after which the week continues to a Tuesday.[125] In Greece Good Friday and Saturday as well as Easter Sunday and Monday are traditionally observed public holidays. It is custom for employees of the public sector to receive Easter bonuses as a gift from the state.[126] In Commonwealth nations Easter Day is rarely a public holiday, as is the case for celebrations which fall on a Sunday. In the United Kingdom both Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays, except for Scotland, where only Good Friday is a bank holiday.[127] In Canada, Easter Monday is a statutory holiday for federal employees. In the Canadian province of Quebec, either Good Friday or Easter Monday are statutory holidays (although most companies give both).[128] In Australia, Easter is associated with harvest time.[129] Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays across all states and territories. "Easter Saturday" (the Saturday before Easter Sunday) is a public holiday in every state except Tasmania and Western Australia, while Easter Sunday itself is a public holiday only in New South Wales. Easter Tuesday is additionally a conditional public holiday in Tasmania, varying between award, and was also a public holiday in Victoria until 1994.[130] In the United States, because Easter falls on a Sunday, which is already a non-working day for federal and state employees, it has not been designated as a federal or state holiday.[131] Easter parades are held in many American cities, involving festive strolling processions.[30] Easter eggs Main article: Easter egg Traditional customs The egg is an ancient symbol of new life and rebirth.[132] In Christianity it became associated with Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection.[133] The custom of the Easter egg originated in the early Christian community of Mesopotamia, who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion.[134][135] As such, for Christians, the Easter egg is a symbol of the empty tomb.[25][26] The oldest tradition is to use dyed chicken eggs. In the Eastern Orthodox Church Easter eggs are blessed by a priest[136] both in families' baskets together with other foods forbidden during Great Lent and alone for distribution or in church or elsewhere.     Traditional red Easter eggs for blessing by a priest     Traditional red Easter eggs for blessing by a priest     A priest blessing baskets with Easter eggs and other foods forbidden during Great Lent     A priest blessing baskets with Easter eggs and other foods forbidden during Great Lent     A priest distributing blessed Easter eggs after blessing the Soyuz rocket     A priest distributing blessed Easter eggs after blessing the Soyuz rocket Easter eggs are a widely popular symbol of new life among the Eastern Orthodox but also in folk traditions in Slavic countries and elsewhere. A batik-like decorating process known as pisanka produces intricate, brilliantly colored eggs. The celebrated House of Fabergé workshops created exquisite jewelled Easter eggs for the Russian Imperial family from 1885 to 1916.[137] Modern customs A modern custom in the Western world is to substitute decorated chocolate, or plastic eggs filled with candy such as jellybeans; as many people give up sweets as their Lenten sacrifice, individuals enjoy them at Easter after having abstained from them during the preceding forty days of Lent.[138]     Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb, are a popular cultural symbol of Easter.[24]     Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb, are a popular cultural symbol of Easter.[24]     Marshmallow rabbits, candy eggs and other treats in an Easter basket     Marshmallow rabbits, candy eggs and other treats in an Easter basket     An Easter egg decorated with the Easter Bunny     An Easter egg decorated with the Easter Bunny Manufacturing their first Easter egg in 1875, British chocolate company Cadbury sponsors the annual Easter egg hunt which takes place in over 250 National Trust locations in the United Kingdom.[139][140] On Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the White House lawn for young children.[141] Easter Bunny In some traditions the children put out their empty baskets for the Easter bunny to fill while they sleep. They wake to find their baskets filled with candy eggs and other treats.[142][31] A custom originating in Germany,[142] the Easter Bunny is a popular legendary anthropomorphic Easter gift-giving character analogous to Santa Claus in American culture. Many children around the world follow the tradition of coloring hard-boiled eggs and giving baskets of candy.[31] Historically, foxes, cranes and storks were also sometimes named as the mystical creatures.[142] Since the rabbit is a pest in Australia, the Easter Bilby is available as an alternative." (wikipedia.org) "Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits, and herbs, are grown for consumption, for use as dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use. Gardening ranges in scale from fruit orchards, to long boulevard plantings with one or more different types of shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants, to residential back gardens including lawns and foundation plantings, all the way to container gardens grown inside or outside. Gardening may be very specialized, with only one type of plant grown, or involve a variety of plants in mixed plantings. It involves an active participation in the growing of plants, and tends to be labor-intensive, which differentiates it from farming or forestry.[1] History Main article: History of gardening Robert Hart's forest garden in Shropshire, England Ancient times Forest gardening, a forest-based food production system, is the world's oldest form of gardening.[2] Forest gardens originated in prehistoric times along jungle-clad river banks and in the wet foothills of monsoon regions. In the gradual process of families improving their immediate environment, useful tree and vine species were identified, protected and improved while undesirable species were eliminated. Eventually foreign species were also selected and incorporated into the gardens.[3] After the emergence of the first civilizations, wealthy individuals began to create gardens for aesthetic purposes. Ancient Egyptian tomb paintings from the New Kingdom (around 1500 BC) provide some of the earliest physical evidence of ornamental horticulture and landscape design; they depict lotus ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of acacias and palms. A notable example of ancient ornamental gardens were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World —while ancient Rome had dozens of gardens. Wealthy ancient Egyptians used gardens for providing shade. Egyptians associated trees and gardens with gods, believing that their deities were pleased by gardens. Gardens in ancient Egypt were often surrounded by walls with trees planted in rows. Among the most popular species planted were date palms, sycamores, fig trees, nut trees, and willows. These gardens were a sign of higher socioeconomic status. In addition, wealthy ancient Egyptians grew vineyards, as wine was a sign of the higher social classes. Roses, poppies, daisies and irises could all also be found in the gardens of the Egyptians. Assyria was also renowned for its beautiful gardens. These tended to be wide and large, some of them used for hunting game—rather like a game reserve today—and others as leisure gardens. Cypresses and palms were some of the most frequently planted types of trees. Gardens were also available in Kush. In Musawwarat es-Sufra, the Great Enclosure dated to the 3rd century BC included splendid gardens.[4] Ancient Roman gardens were laid out with hedges and vines and contained a wide variety of flowers—acanthus, cornflowers, crocus, cyclamen, hyacinth, iris, ivy, lavender, lilies, myrtle, narcissus, poppy, rosemary and violets[5]—as well as statues and sculptures. Flower beds were popular in the courtyards of rich Romans. The Middle Ages A gardener at work, 1607 The Middle Ages represent a period of decline in gardens for aesthetic purposes. After the fall of Rome, gardening was done for the purpose of growing medicinal herbs and/or decorating church altars. Monasteries carried on a tradition of garden design and intense horticultural techniques during the medieval period in Europe. Generally, monastic garden types consisted of kitchen gardens, infirmary gardens, cemetery orchards, cloister garths and vineyards. Individual monasteries might also have had a "green court", a plot of grass and trees where horses could graze, as well as a cellarer's garden or private gardens for obedientiaries, monks who held specific posts within the monastery. Islamic gardens were built after the model of Persian gardens and they were usually enclosed by walls and divided in four by watercourses. Commonly, the centre of the garden would have a reflecting pool or pavilion. Specific to the Islamic gardens are the mosaics and glazed tiles used to decorate the rills and fountains that were built in these gardens. By the late 13th century, rich Europeans began to grow gardens for leisure and for medicinal herbs and vegetables.[5] They surrounded the gardens by walls to protect them from animals and to provide seclusion. During the next two centuries, Europeans started planting lawns and raising flowerbeds and trellises of roses. Fruit trees were common in these gardens and also in some, there were turf seats. At the same time, the gardens in the monasteries were a place to grow flowers and medicinal herbs but they were also a space where the monks could enjoy nature and relax. The gardens in the 16th and 17th century were symmetric, proportioned and balanced with a more classical appearance. Most of these gardens were built around a central axis and they were divided into different parts by hedges. Commonly, gardens had flowerbeds laid out in squares and separated by gravel paths. Gardens in Renaissance were adorned with sculptures, topiary and fountains. In the 17th century, knot gardens became popular along with the hedge mazes. By this time, Europeans started planting new flowers such as tulips, marigolds and sunflowers. Cottage gardens A cottage garden in Brittany Cottage gardens, which emerged in Elizabethan times, appear to have originated as a local source for herbs and fruits.[6] One theory is that they arose out of the Black Death of the 1340s, when the death of so many laborers made land available for small cottages with personal gardens.[7] According to the late 19th-century legend of origin,[8] these gardens were originally created by the workers that lived in the cottages of the villages, to provide them with food and herbs, with flowers planted among them for decoration. Farm workers were provided with cottages that had architectural quality set in a small garden—about 1 acre (0.40 hectares)—where they could grow food and keep pigs and chickens.[9] Authentic gardens of the yeoman cottager would have included a beehive and livestock, and frequently a pig and sty, along with a well. The peasant cottager of medieval times was more interested in meat than flowers, with herbs grown for medicinal use rather than for their beauty. By Elizabethan times there was more prosperity, and thus more room to grow flowers. Even the early cottage garden flowers typically had their practical use—violets were spread on the floor (for their pleasant scent and keeping out vermin); calendulas and primroses were both attractive and used in cooking. Others, such as sweet William and hollyhocks, were grown entirely for their beauty.[10] 18th century Sheffield Park Garden, a landscape garden originally laid out in the 18th century by Capability Brown In the 18th century, gardens were laid out more naturally, without any walls. This style of smooth undulating grass, which would run straight to the house, clumps, belts and scattering of trees and his serpentine lakes formed by invisibly damming small rivers, were a new style within the English landscape, a "gardenless" form of landscape gardening, which swept away almost all the remnants of previous formally patterned styles. The English landscape garden usually included a lake, lawns set against groves of trees, and often contained shrubberies, grottoes, pavilions, bridges and follies such as mock temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape. This new style emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe.[11] The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. They were often inspired by paintings of landscapes by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin, and some were Influenced by the classic Chinese gardens of the East,[12] which had recently been described by European travelers.[12] The work of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was particularly influential. Also, in 1804 the Horticultural Society was formed. Gardens of the 19th century contained plants such as the monkey puzzle or Chile pine. This is also the time when the so-called "gardenesque" style of gardens evolved. These gardens displayed a wide variety of flowers in a rather small space. Rock gardens increased in popularity in the 19th century. In ancient India, patterns from sacred geometry and mandalas were used to design gardens. Distinct mandala patterns denoted specific deities, planets, or even constellations. Such a garden was also referred to as a 'Mandala Vaatika'. The word 'Vaatika' can mean garden, plantation or parterre. Types Main article: List of garden types Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco Hanging baskets in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire An organic garden on a school campus Residential gardening takes place near the home, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden typically is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located on a roof, in an atrium, on a balcony, in a window box, on a patio or vivarium. Gardening also takes place in non-residential green areas, such as parks, public or semi-public gardens (botanical gardens or zoological gardens), amusement parks, along transportation corridors, and around tourist attractions and garden hotels. In these situations, a staff of gardeners or groundskeepers maintains the gardens.     Indoor gardening is concerned with the growing of houseplants within a residence or building, in a conservatory, or in a greenhouse. Indoor gardens are sometimes incorporated as part of air conditioning or heating systems. Indoor gardening extends the growing season in the fall and spring and can be used for winter gardening.     Native plant gardening is concerned with the use of native plants with or without the intent of creating wildlife habitat. The goal is to create a garden in harmony with, and adapted to a given area. This type of gardening typically reduces water usage, maintenance, and fertilization costs, while increasing native faunal interest.     Water gardening is concerned with growing plants adapted to pools and ponds. Bog gardens are also considered a type of water garden. These all require special conditions and considerations. A simple water garden may consist solely of a tub containing the water and plant(s). In aquascaping, a garden is created within an aquarium tank.     Container gardening is concerned with growing plants in any type of container either indoors or outdoors. Common containers are pots, hanging baskets, and planters. Container gardening is usually used in atriums and on balconies, patios, and roof tops.     Hügelkultur is concerned with growing plants on piles of rotting wood, as a form of raised bed gardening and composting in situ.[13] An English loanword from German, it means "mound garden." Toby Hemenway, noted permaculture author and teacher, considers wood buried in trenches to also be a form of hugelkultur referred to as a dead wood swale.[14] Hugelkultur is practiced by Sepp Holzer as a method of forest gardening and agroforestry, and by Geoff Lawton as a method of dryland farming and desert greening.[15] When used as a method of disposing of large volumes of waste wood and woody debris, hugelkultur accomplishes carbon sequestration.[13] It is also a form of xeriscaping.     Community gardening is a social activity in which an area of land is gardened by a group of people, providing access to fresh produce, herbs, flowers and plants as well as access to satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment.[16][17] Community gardens are typically owned in trust by local governments or nonprofits.[18]     Garden sharing partners landowners with gardeners in need of land. These shared gardens, typically front or back yards, are usually used to produce food that is divided between the two parties.     Organic gardening uses natural, sustainable methods, fertilizers and pesticides to grow non-genetically modified crops.     Biodynamic gardening or biodynamic agriculture is similar to organic gardening, but includes various esoteric concepts drawn from the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, such as astrological sowing and planting calendar and particular field and compost preparations.     Commercial gardening is a more intensive type of gardening that involves the production of vegetables, nontropical fruits, and flowers from local farmers. Commercial gardening began because farmers would sell locally to stop food from spoiling faster because of the transportation of goods from a far distance. Mediterranean agriculture is also a common practice that commercial gardeners use. Mediterranean agriculture is the practice of cultivating animals such as sheep to help weed and provide manure for vine crops, grains, or citrus. Gardeners can easily train these animals to not eat the actual plant.[19] Social aspects People can express their political or social views in gardens, intentionally or not. The lawn vs. garden issue is played out in urban planning as the debate over the "land ethic" that is to determine urban land use and whether hyper hygienist bylaws (e.g. weed control) should apply, or whether land should generally be allowed to exist in its natural wild state. In a famous Canadian Charter of Rights case, "Sandra Bell vs. City of Toronto", 1997, the right to cultivate all native species, even most varieties deemed noxious or allergenic, was upheld as part of the right of free expression. Community gardening comprises a wide variety of approaches to sharing land and gardens. Garden at the Schultenhof in Mettingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany People often surround their house and garden with a hedge. Common hedge plants are privet, hawthorn, beech, yew, leyland cypress, hemlock, arborvitae, barberry, box, holly, oleander, forsythia and lavender. The idea of open gardens without hedges may be distasteful to those who enjoy privacy. The Slow Food movement has sought in some countries to add an edible school yard and garden classrooms to schools, e.g. in Fergus, Ontario, where these were added to a public school to augment the kitchen classroom. Garden sharing, where urban landowners allow gardeners to grow on their property in exchange for a share of the harvest, is associated with the desire to control the quality of one's food, and reconnect with soil and community.[20] In US and British usage, the production of ornamental plantings around buildings is called landscaping, landscape maintenance or grounds keeping, while international usage uses the term gardening for these same activities. Also gaining popularity is the concept of "Green Gardening" which involves growing plants using organic fertilizers and pesticides so that the gardening process – or the flowers and fruits produced thereby – doesn't adversely affect the environment or people's health in any manner. Benefits Gardening is considered by many people to be a relaxing activity. There are also many studies about the positive effects on mental and physical health in relation to gardening.[21] Specifically, gardening is thought to increase self-esteem and reduce stress.[22] As writer and former teacher Sarah Biddle notes, one's garden may become a "tiny oasis to relax and recharge [one's] batteries."[23] Involving in gardening activities aid in creativity, observational skills, learning, planning and physical movement.[24] Others consider gardening to be a good hedge against supply chain disruptions with increased worries that the public cannot always trust that the grocery store shelves will be fully stocked.[25] In April 2022, about 31% of grocery products were out of stock which is an 11% increase from November 2021.[26] Gardening can also support good numbers and a wide range of pollinators, but worryingly bees and other pollinators are in decline. Gardeners can make a difference to help reverse this trend.[27] The main thing that matters is that they get their share of nectar to fuel their busy lifestyles,[28] and this is where gardening can help them. Comparison with farming See also: Allotment (gardening) Berms of fava beans have been planted at Hayes Valley Farm, a community-built farm on the former Central freeway ramps of San Francisco Gardening for beauty is likely[original research?] nearly as old as farming for food, however for most of history for the majority of people there was no real distinction since the need for food and other useful products trumped other concerns. Small-scale, subsistence agriculture (called hoe-farming) is largely indistinguishable from gardening. A patch of potatoes grown by a Peruvian peasant or an Irish smallholder for personal use could be described as either a garden or a farm. Gardening for average people evolved as a separate discipline, more concerned with aesthetics, recreation and leisure,[29] under the influence of the pleasure gardens of the wealthy.[30] Meanwhile, farming has evolved (in developed countries) in the direction of commercialization, economics of scale, and monocropping. In respect to its food-producing purpose, gardening is distinguished from farming chiefly by scale and intent. Farming occurs on a larger scale, and with the production of salable goods as a major motivation. Gardening happens on a smaller scale, primarily for pleasure and to produce goods for the gardener's own family or community. There is some overlap between the terms, particularly in that some moderate-sized vegetable growing concerns, often called market gardening, can fit in either category. The key distinction between gardening and farming is essentially one of scale; gardening can be a hobby or an income supplement, but farming is generally understood as a full-time or commercial activity, usually involving more land and quite different practices. One distinction is that gardening is labor-intensive and employs very little infrastructural capital, sometimes no more than a few tools, e.g. a spade, hoe, basket and watering can. By contrast, larger-scale farming often involves irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers and harvesters or at least ladders, e.g. to reach up into fruit trees. However, this distinction is becoming blurred with the increasing use of power tools in even small gardens. Monty Don has speculated on an atavistic connection between present-day gardeners and pre-modern peasantry.[31] The term precision agriculture is sometimes used[by whom?] to describe gardening using intermediate technology (more than tools, less than harvesters), especially of organic varieties. Gardening is effectively scaled up to feed entire villages of over 100 people from specialized plots. A variant is the community garden which offers plots to urban dwellers. Ornaments and accessories Main article: Garden ornament A classical urn at Palm House, the Belfast Botanic Gardens, Northern Ireland, as garden ornament There is a wide range of garden ornaments and accessories available in the market for both the professional gardener and the amateur to exercise their creativity. These are used to add decoration or functionality, and may be made from a wide range of materials such as copper, stone, wood, bamboo, stainless steel, clay, stained glass, concrete, or iron. Examples include trellis, garden furniture, gnomes, statues, outdoor fireplaces, fountains, rain chains, urns, bird baths and feeders, wind chimes, and garden lighting such as candle lanterns and oil lamps. The use of these items can be part of the expression of a gardener's gardening personality. As art See also: Landscape architecture and Jupiter Artland Garden design is considered to be an art in most cultures, distinguished from gardening, which generally means garden maintenance. Garden design can include different themes such as perennial, butterfly, wildlife, Japanese, water, tropical, or shade gardens. In Japan, Samurai and Zen monks were often required to build decorative gardens or practice related skills like flower arrangement known as ikebana. In 18th-century Europe, country estates were refashioned by landscape gardeners into formal gardens or landscaped park lands, such as at Versailles, France, or Stowe, England. Today, landscape architects and garden designers continue to produce artistically creative designs for private garden spaces. In the US, professional landscape designers are certified by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers.[32] Pests Garden pests are generally plants, fungi, or animals (frequently insects) that engage in activity that the gardener considers undesirable. A pest may crowd out desirable plants, disturb soil, stunt the growth of young seedlings, steal or damage fruit, or otherwise kill plants, hamper their growth, damage their appearance, or reduce the quality of the edible or ornamental portions of the plant. Aphids, spider mites, slugs, snails, ants, birds, and even cats are commonly considered to be garden pests. The flame flower (Tropaeolum speciosum), climbs over other plants to a sunlit position Because gardeners may have different goals, organisms considered "garden pests" vary from gardener to gardener. Tropaeolum speciosum, for example, may be considered a desirable and ornamental garden plant, or it may be considered a pest if it seeds and starts to grow where it is not wanted. As another example, in lawns, moss can become dominant and be impossible to eradicate. In some lawns, lichens, especially very damp lawn lichens such as Peltigera lactucfolia and P. membranacea, can become difficult to control and are considered pests. Pest control There are many ways by which unwanted pests are removed from a garden. The techniques vary depending on the pest, the gardener's goals, and the gardener's philosophy. For example, snails may be dealt with through the use of a chemical pesticide, an organic pesticide, hand-picking, barriers, or simply growing snail-resistant plants. Pest control is often done through the use of pesticides, which may be either organic or artificially synthesized. Pesticides may affect the ecology of a garden due to their effects on the populations of both target and non-target species. For example, unintended exposure to some neonicotinoid pesticides has been proposed as a factor in the recent decline in honey bee populations.[33] A mole vibrator can deter mole activity in a garden.[34] Other means of control include the removal of infected plants, using fertilizers and biostimulants to improve the health and vigour of plants so they better resist attack, practising crop rotation to prevent pest build-up, using companion planting,[35] and practising good garden hygiene, such as disinfecting tools and clearing debris and weeds which may harbour pests. CCI .22LR snake shot loaded with #12 shot Garden guns Main article: Garden gun Garden guns are smooth-bore shotguns specifically made to fire .22 caliber snake shot, and are commonly used by gardeners and farmers for pest control. Garden guns are short-range weapons that can do little harm past 15 to 20 yards (14 to 18 m) and are relatively quiet when fired with snake shot, compared to a standard ammunition. These guns are especially effective inside of barns and sheds, as the snake shot will not shoot holes in the roof or walls, or more importantly injure livestock with a ricochet. They are also used for pest control at airports, warehouses, stockyards, etc." (wikipedia.org) "History of gardening     Article     Talk     Read     Edit     View history From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Renaissance style gardens at Chateau Villandry. The Mughal-style garden leading to the Taj Mahal. The early history of gardening is largely entangled with the history of agriculture, with gardens that were mainly ornamental generally the preserve of the elite until quite recent times. Smaller gardens generally had being a kitchen garden as their first priority, as is still often the case. The broad traditions that have dominated gardening since ancient times include those of the Ancient Near East, which became the Islamic garden, the Mediterranean, which produced the Roman garden, hugely influencing later European gardening, and the Chinese garden and its development in the Japanese garden. While the basic gardening techniques were fairly well understood by trial and error from early on, the plants available in a particular location have changed enormously, especially in recent centuries. Many new groups of plants have been introduced from other parts of the world, and the ornamental plants now used are mostly cultivars bred to improve qualities such as colour, length of flowering, size and hardiness. In Europe garden design in the Renaissance was dominated by the Italian garden in the Renaissance, which developed into the French formal garden, dominating the Baroque period; both were formal styles, attempting to impose architectural principles on the garden. In the 18th century, the English landscape garden developed, apparently informal and natural, but requiring very large spaces, and by the end of the century dominated all Europe in the largest new gardens. Gardening may be considered as aesthetic expressions of beauty through art and nature, a display of taste or style in civilized life,[1] an expression of an individual's or culture's philosophy, and sometimes as a display of private status or national pride—in private and public landscapes.[2] Introduction The enclosure of outdoor space probably began around 10,000 BC. Historians imagine the first enclosure was a type of barrier used for excluding animals and marauders, perhaps beginning in West Asia, thereafter spreading to South and East Asia, and westward into Greece, and Europe. The modern words "garden" and "yard" are descendants of the Old English "geard", which denotes a fence or enclosure.[3] After the emergence of the first civilizations, wealthy citizens began creating gardens for purely aesthetic purposes. Egyptian tomb paintings of the 16th century BC[4] are some of the earliest physical evidence of ornamental horticulture and landscape design depicting lotus ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of acacias and palms. Another ancient tradition is of Persia: Darius the Great was said to have had a "paradise garden" and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were renowned as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Persian gardens were designed along a central axis of symmetry. Persian influences extended to Hellenistic Greece after Alexander the Great. C. 350 BC there were gardens at the Academy of Athens, and Theophrastus, who wrote on botany, supposedly inherited a garden from Aristotle. Epicurus had a garden where he walked and taught, and he bequeathed it to Hermarchus of Mytilene. Alciphron also referenced private gardens in his writing. The most influential ancient gardens in the western world were those of Ptolemy in Alexandria, Egypt and the horticultural tradition that Lucullus brought to Rome. Wall paintings in Pompeii, Italy attest to later elaborate development. The wealthiest Romans built extensive villa gardens with water features, including fountains and rivulets, topiary, roses, and shaded arcades. Archeological evidence survives at sites such as Hadrian's Villa. Vitruvius, a Roman author and engineer, wrote the oldest extant design manual in 27 BC. De architectura libri decem (Ten Books on Architecture) addressed design theory, landscape architecture, engineering, water supply, and public projects, such as parks and squares. Vitruvius asserted that firmitas (firmness, durability, strength), utilitas (commodity, convenience, utility) and venustas (delight, loveliness, beauty) were the primary objectives of design. Some still consider these elements essential to quality design of landscape.[3] Byzantium and Moorish Spain continued horticultural traditions after the 4th century AD and the decline of Rome. By this time, a separate horticultural tradition formed in China, which was transmitted to Japan, where it developed into aristocratic gardens featuring miniaturized and simulated natural landscapes centered on ponds, and the severe Zen garden form featured at temples. In Europe, gardening revived in Languedoc and the Île-de-France in the 13th century. The rediscovery of descriptions of antique Roman villas and gardens led to the creation of a new form of garden, the Italian Renaissance garden, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Spanish Crown built the first public parks of this era in the 16th century, both in Europe and the Americas. The formal garden à la française, exemplified by the Gardens of Versailles, became the dominant horticultural style in Europe until the middle of the 18th century, when the English landscape garden and the French landscape garden acceded to dominance. In the 19th century, a welter of historical revivals and Romantic cottage-inspired gardening emerged. In England, William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll were influential proponents of the wild garden and the perennial garden, respectively. Andrew Jackson Downing and Frederick Law Olmsted adapted European forms for North America, especially influencing the design of public parks, campuses and suburban landscapes. Olmsted's influence extended well into the 20th century. The 20th century saw the influence of modernism in the garden: from the articulate clarity of Thomas Church to the bold colors and forms of the Brazilian Roberto Burle Marx. Environmental consciousness and sustainable design practices, such as green roofs and rainwater harvesting, are becoming widely practiced as innovations in these fields continue to develop. The historical development of garden styles Mesopotamian gardens Map showing the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Mesopotamia, the "land between the Rivers" Tigris and Euphrates, comprises a hilly and mountainous northern area and a flat, alluvial south. Its peoples (Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians) were urban and literate from about 3,000 BCE. Evidence for their gardens comes from written texts, pictorial sculpture, and archaeology. In Western tradition, Mesopotamia was the location of the Garden of Eden and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Temple gardens developed from the representation of a sacred grove; several distinct styles of royal garden are also known.[5] The courtyard garden was enclosed by the walls of a palace, or on a larger scale was a cultivated place inside the city walls. At Mari on the Middle Euphrates (c. 1,800 BCE), one of the huge palace courtyards was called the Court of the Palms in contemporary written records. It is crossed by raised walkways of baked brick; the king and his entourage would dine there. At Ugarit (c. 1,400 BCE), there was a stone water basin, not located centrally as in later Persian gardens, for the central feature was probably a tree (date, palm, or tamarisk). The 7th century BC, Assyrian king Assurbanipal is shown on a sculpture feasting with his queen, reclining on a couch beneath an arbour of vines, attended by musicians. Trophies of conquest are on display, including the dismembered head of the king of Elam hanging from a fragrant pine branch. A Babylonian text from the same period is divided into sections, as if showing beds of soil with the names of medicinal, vegetable, and herbal plants written into each square, perhaps representing a parterre design. On a larger scale, royal hunting parks were established to hold the exotic animals and plants which the king had acquired on his foreign campaigns. King Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1,000 BCE) lists horses, oxen, asses, deer of two types, gazelle and ibex, boasting "I numbered them like flocks of sheep."[6] From around 1,000 BCE, the Assyrian kings developed a style of city garden incorporating a naturalistic layout, running water supplied from river headwaters, and exotic plants from their foreign campaigns. Assurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE) lists pines of different kinds, cypresses and junipers of different kinds, almonds, dates, ebony, rosewood, olive, oak, tamarisk, walnut, terebinth and ash, fir pomegranate, pear, quince, fig and grapevines: "The canal water gushes from above into the gardens; fragrance pervades the walkways; streams of water as numerous as the stars of heaven flow in the pleasure garden.... Like a squirrel, I pick fruit in the garden of delights." The city garden reached its zenith with the palace design of Sennacherib (704–681 BCE), whose water system stretched for 50 km into the hills, whose garden was higher and more ornate than any others, and who boasted of the complex technologies he deployed, calling his palace and garden "a wonder for all peoples". The biblical Book of Genesis mentions the Tigris and Euphrates as two of the four rivers bounding the Garden of Eden.[7] No specific place has been identified, although there are many theories. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are listed by classical Greek writers as one of the Seven Wonders of the World – places to see before you die. The excavated ruins of Babylon do not reveal any suitable evidence, which has led some scholars to suggest that they may have been purely legendary.[8] Alternatively, the story may have originated from Sennacherib's garden in Nineveh." (wikipedia.org) "A sun hat (also known as the floppy hat, harvest hat or field hat[1]) is any hat or headgear specifically designed to shade the face, neck and shoulders from direct sunlight, usually with a circumferentially protruding semi-rigid brim that can range from small to large, but as a general guideline around 4 to 7 in (10 to 18 cm) in width. Sun hat can incorporate a variety of materials and styles, including the straw hat, cone hat, Boonie hat and the pith helmet (sun helmet). In modern times, sun hats are common in places around the world, mainly in holiday resorts with plentiful direct sunlight, usually in tropical countries close to the Earth's equator. They are particularly useful in protecting against UV-induced sunburns and skin cancers on the face and neck. Gallery     Breton (hat), 1950     Breton (hat), 1950     Woman in sun-hat, Bondi Beach     Woman in sun-hat, Bondi Beach     Lorius hypoinochrous.jpg     Palmleaf sun hat     Palmleaf sun hat     Four different types of sun hats, Ecuador     Four different types of sun hats, Ecuador     Panama hats sold on a street market in Ecuador     Panama hats sold on a street market in Ecuador     A wide-brimmed woman's baliwag hat from Baliwag, Bulacan" (wikipedia.org) "A straw hat is a wide-brimmed hat woven out of straw or straw-like synthetic materials.[1] Straw hats are a type of sun hat designed to shade the head and face from direct sunlight, but are also used in fashion as a decorative element or a uniform. Materials Commonly used fibers are:[2]     Wheat straw: (Milan straw, Tuscan, Livorno),     Rye straw: used for the traditional bryl straw hats popular among the peasants of Belarus, southwestern Russia and Ukraine.     Toquilla straw: flexible and durable fiber, which is often made into hats, known as Panama hats, in Ecuador.[citation needed]     Buntal/ Parabuntal straw: from unopened Palm leaves or stems of the Buri Palm,     Baku straw: 1x1 woven, made from the young stalks of the Talipot palm from Malabar and Ceylon,     Braided hemp,     Raffia,     Shantung straw: made from high performance paper which is rolled into a yarn to imitate straw,[3] historically it was made of buntal[2]     Toyo straw: cellophane coated Washi,     Bangora straw: made from a lower grade of Washi,     Paperbraids: made from different paper strands from viscose from different Plants (Swiss Paglinastraw[4]), (Silkpaper, Rice paper),     Sisal/ Parasisal (2x2 woven sisal),     Seagrass (Xian),     Visca straw: an artificial straw made by spinning viscose in a flat filament capable of being braided, woven, or knitted and used especially for women's hats,     Rush straw: a thick, stiff straw, used to manufacture inexpensive casual sun hats, made from rush grass (Juncus effesus, Juncus polycephalus), from the bulrushtypes sedge grass (Schoenoplectus lacustris, Cyperus papyrus,[5][6] Typha (Typha domingensis, syn. Thypha angustata) (bulrush or cattail)}[7] and other types seashore rushgrass (Sporobolus virginicus) or reed[8][9][self-published source?][self-published source]     Jute,     Abacá: (for Sinamay hats)     Ramie,     Artificial, synthetic straw, PP straw: made from Polypropylene, Polyethylene[10] or from different blends from Acrylic, PP, PE, Polyester, Ramie and Paper[11]     other straw fibers that are mostly used in Asian conical hats are made from different palms (Corypha, Rattan, Trachycarpus, Phoenix), grasses Cane, Bamboo[12] and rice straw (Kasa (hat))     Chip straw:[13] from White pine, Lombardy poplar, or English willow, has historically been used,[14] but has become less common. Manufacture There are several styles of straw hats, but all of them are woven using some form of plant fibre.[15][16] Many of these hats are formed in a similar way to felt hats; they are softened by steam or by submersion in hot water, and then formed by hand or over a hat block. Finer and more expensive straw hats have a tighter and more consistent weave. Since it takes much more time to weave a larger hat than a smaller one, larger hats are more expensive.[citation needed] History Straw hats have been worn in Africa and Asia since after the Middle Ages during the summer months, and have changed little between the medieval times and today. They are worn, mostly by men, by all classes. Many can be seen in the calendar miniatures of the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. The mokorotlo, a local design of a straw hat, is the national symbol of the Basotho and Lesotho peoples, and of the nation of Lesotho. It is displayed on Lesotho license plates. President Theodore Roosevelt posed for a series of photos at the Panama Canal construction site in 1906. He was portrayed as a strong, rugged leader dressed crisply in light-colored suits and stylish straw fedoras. This helped popularize the straw "Panama hat"." (wikipedia.org) "Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). Oryctolagus cuniculus includes the European rabbit species and its descendants, the world's 305 breeds[1] of domestic rabbit. Sylvilagus includes 13 wild rabbit species, among them the seven types of cottontail. The European rabbit, which has been introduced on every continent except Antarctica, is familiar throughout the world as a wild prey animal and as a domesticated form of livestock and pet. With its widespread effect on ecologies and cultures, the rabbit is, in many areas of the world, a part of daily life—as food, clothing, a companion, and a source of artistic inspiration. Although once considered rodents, lagomorphs like rabbits have been discovered to have diverged separately and earlier than their rodent cousins and have a number of traits rodents lack, like two extra incisors. Terminology and etymology A male rabbit is called a buck; a female is called a doe. An older term for an adult rabbit used until the 18th century is coney (derived ultimately from the Latin cuniculus), while rabbit once referred only to the young animals.[2] Another term for a young rabbit is bunny, though this term is often applied informally (particularly by children) to rabbits generally, especially domestic ones. More recently, the term kit or kitten has been used to refer to a young rabbit. A group of rabbits is known as a colony or nest (or, occasionally, a warren, though this more commonly refers to where the rabbits live).[3] A group of baby rabbits produced from a single mating is referred to as a litter[4] and a group of domestic rabbits living together is sometimes called a herd.[5] The word rabbit itself derives from the Middle English rabet, a borrowing from the Walloon robète, which was a diminutive of the French or Middle Dutch robbe.[6] Taxonomy See also: List of leporids Rabbits and hares were formerly classified in the order Rodentia (rodent) until 1912, when they were moved into a new order, Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). Below are some of the genera and species of the rabbit.     A small, round, dust-coloured rabbit with upright, close-set ears sat on the ground amidst dead branches.     Brachylagus idahoensis     Pygmy rabbit     A model of a relatively large rabbit, with a slightly longer face and shorter, rounder ears, and fur patterned black and gold.     Nesolagus netscheri     Sumatran Striped Rabbit     (Model)     A small, light-brown rabbit with upright ears sat on some grass.     Oryctolagus cuniculus     European rabbit     (Feral Tasmanian specimen)     A taxidermy of a large rabbit with dark brown fur, small, thin ears and an elongated, rodent-like face.     Pentalagus furnessi     Amami rabbit     (Taxidermy specimen)     A taxidermy of a very small light-brown rabbit mid-gallop. Its features are equally small, appearing similar to a vole.     Romerolagus diazi     Volcano rabbit     (Taxidermy specimen)     A juvenile rabbit sat on a white person's hand; its fur is a light brown ticked heavily with dark brown. It is not quite large enough to fill the person's hand completely.     Sylvilagus aquaticus     Swamp rabbit     (Juvenile)     A medium-sized rabbit with light brown fur ticked with grey, its ears large and upright. It stands on all fours on some sandy ground.     Sylvilagus audubonii     Desert cottontail     A light-brown rabbit sitting in a field, its body unusually large and squat, its limbs and head small, and its ears especially small     Sylvilagus bachmani     Brush rabbit     A taxidermy of a small rabbit, its fur a warm brown ticked with a darker brown, its ears small and set back, its face closer to a vole's than a rabbit's     Sylvilagus brasiliensis     Tapeti     (Taxidermy specimen)     A rabbit sitting upright in a field, turning to face the camera, its fur a light brown ticked with grey and dark brown, its ears upright     Sylvilagus floridanus     Eastern cottontail     Order Lagomorpha         Family Leporidae (in part)     Genus Brachylagus         Pygmy rabbit, Brachylagus idahoensis     Genus Bunolagus         Bushman rabbit, Bunolagus monticularis     Genus Lepus[a]     Genus Nesolagus         Sumatran striped rabbit, Nesolagus netscheri         Annamite striped rabbit, Nesolagus timminsi     Genus Oryctolagus         European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus     Genus Pentalagus         Amami rabbit/Ryūkyū rabbit, Pentalagus furnessi     Genus Poelagus         Central African Rabbit, Poelagus marjorita     Genus Romerolagus         Volcano rabbit, Romerolagus diazi     Genus Sylvilagus         Swamp rabbit, Sylvilagus aquaticus         Desert cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii         Brush rabbit, Sylvilagus bachmani         Forest rabbit, Sylvilagus brasiliensis         Mexican cottontail, Sylvilagus cunicularis         Dice's cottontail, Sylvilagus dicei         Eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus         Tres Marias rabbit, Sylvilagus graysoni         Omilteme cottontail, Sylvilagus insonus         San Jose brush rabbit, Sylvilagus mansuetus         Mountain cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii         Marsh rabbit, Sylvilagus palustris         New England cottontail, Sylvilagus transitionalis Differences from hares Main article: Hare Hare Johann Daniel Meyer (1748) Rabbit Johann Daniel Meyer (1748) The term rabbit is typically used for all Leporidae species excluding the genus Lepus. Members of that genus are instead known as hares or jackrabbits. Lepus species are typically precocial, born relatively mature and mobile with hair and good vision, while rabbit species are altricial, born hairless and blind, and requiring closer care. Hares live a relatively solitary life in a simple nest above the ground, while most rabbits live in social groups in burrows or warrens. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with ears that are more elongated, and with hind legs that are larger and longer. Descendants of the European rabbit are commonly bred as livestock and kept as pets, whereas no hares have been domesticated – the breed called the Belgian hare is actually a domestic rabbit which has been selectively bred to resemble a hare.... In art, literature, and culture Main article: Rabbits and hares in art     This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Rabbits are often used as a symbol of fertility or rebirth, and have long been associated with spring and Easter as the Easter Bunny. The species' role as a prey animal with few defenses evokes vulnerability and innocence, and in folklore and modern children's stories, rabbits often appear as sympathetic characters, able to connect easily with youth of all kinds (for example, the Velveteen Rabbit, or Thumper in Bambi). With its reputation as a prolific breeder, the rabbit juxtaposes sexuality with innocence, as in the Playboy Bunny. The rabbit (as a swift prey animal) is also known for its speed, agility, and endurance, symbolized (for example) by the marketing icons the Energizer Bunny and the Duracell Bunny. Folklore Main article: List of fictional hares and rabbits The rabbit often appears in folklore as the trickster archetype, as he uses his cunning to outwit his enemies.     In Aztec mythology, a pantheon of four hundred rabbit gods known as Centzon Totochtin, led by Ometochtli or Two Rabbit, represented fertility, parties, and drunkenness.     In Central Africa, the common hare (Kalulu), is "inevitably described" as a trickster figure.[74]     In Chinese folklore, rabbits accompany Chang'e on the Moon. In the Chinese New Year, the zodiacal rabbit is one of the twelve celestial animals in the Chinese zodiac. Note that the Vietnamese zodiac includes a zodiacal cat in place of the rabbit, possibly because rabbits did not inhabit Vietnam.[citation needed] The most common explanation is that the ancient Vietnamese word for "rabbit" (mao) sounds like the Chinese word for "cat" (卯, mao).[75]     In Japanese tradition, rabbits live on the Moon where they make mochi, the popular snack of mashed sticky rice. This comes from interpreting the pattern of dark patches on the moon as a rabbit standing on tiptoes on the left pounding on an usu, a Japanese mortar.     In Jewish folklore, rabbits (shfanim שפנים) are associated with cowardice, a usage still current in contemporary Israeli spoken Hebrew (similar to the English colloquial use of "chicken" to denote cowardice).     In Korean mythology, as in Japanese, rabbits live on the moon making rice cakes ("Tteok" in Korean).     In Anishinaabe traditional beliefs, held by the Ojibwe and some other Native American peoples, Nanabozho, or Great Rabbit, is an important deity related to the creation of the world.     A Vietnamese mythological story portrays the rabbit of innocence and youthfulness. The gods of the myth are shown to be hunting and killing rabbits to show off their power.     Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism have associations with an ancient circular motif called the three rabbits (or "three hares"). Its meaning ranges from "peace and tranquility", to purity or the Holy Trinity, to Kabbalistic levels of the soul or to the Jewish diaspora. The tripartite symbol also appears in heraldry and even tattoos. The rabbit as trickster is a part of American popular culture, as Br'er Rabbit (from African-American folktales and, later, Disney animation) and Bugs Bunny (the cartoon character from Warner Bros.), for example. Anthropomorphized rabbits have appeared in film and literature, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (the White Rabbit and the March Hare characters), in Watership Down (including the film and television adaptations), in Rabbit Hill (by Robert Lawson), and in the Peter Rabbit stories (by Beatrix Potter). In the 1920s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was a popular cartoon character. A rabbit's foot may be carried as an amulet, believed to bring protection and good luck. This belief is found in many parts of the world, with the earliest use being recorded in Europe c. 600 BC.[76] On the Isle of Portland in Dorset, UK, the rabbit is said to be unlucky and even speaking the creature's name can cause upset among older island residents. This is thought to date back to early times in the local quarrying industry where (to save space) extracted stones that were not fit for sale were set aside in what became tall, unstable walls. The local rabbits' tendency to burrow there would weaken the walls and their collapse resulted in injuries or even death. Thus, invoking the name of the culprit became an unlucky act to be avoided. In the local culture to this day, the rabbit (when he has to be referred to) may instead be called a “long ears” or “underground mutton”, so as not to risk bringing a downfall upon oneself.[77] While it was true 50 years ago[when?] that a pub on the island could be emptied by calling out the word "rabbit", this has become more fable than fact in modern times.[citation needed] In other parts of Britain and in North America, invoking the rabbit's name may instead bring good luck. "Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is one variant of an apotropaic or talismanic superstition that involves saying or repeating the word "rabbit" (or "rabbits" or "white rabbits" or some combination thereof) out loud upon waking on the first day of each month, because doing so will ensure good fortune for the duration of that month. The "rabbit test" is a term, first used in 1949, for the Friedman test, an early diagnostic tool for detecting a pregnancy in humans. It is a common misconception (or perhaps an urban legend) that the test-rabbit would die if the woman was pregnant. This led to the phrase "the rabbit died" becoming a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test. " (wikipedia.org) "Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs,[1] are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tradition, which continues to be used in Central and Eastern Europe, is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs. Although eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility and rebirth,[2] in Christianity, for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus, from which Jesus was resurrected.[3][4][5] In addition, one ancient tradition was the staining of Easter eggs with the colour red "in memory of the blood of Christ, shed as at that time of his crucifixion."[3][6] This custom of the Easter egg, according to many sources, can be traced to early Christians of Mesopotamia, and from there it spread into Eastern Europe and Siberia through the Orthodox Churches, and later into Europe through the Catholic and Protestant Churches.[6][7][8][9] Mediaevalist scholars normally conclude that the custom of Easter eggs has its roots in the prohibition of eggs during Lent after which, on Easter, they have been blessed for the occasion.[10][11] A modern custom in some places is to substitute chocolate eggs wrapped in coloured foil, hand-carved wooden eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as chocolate. History The practice of decorating eggshells is quite ancient,[12] with decorated, engraved ostrich eggs found in Africa which are 60,000 years old.[13] In the pre-dynastic period of Egypt and the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete, eggs were associated with death and rebirth, as well as with kingship, with decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver, were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 5,000 years ago.[14] These cultural relationships may have influenced early Christian and Islamic cultures in those areas, as well as through mercantile, religious, and political links from those areas around the Mediterranean.[15] Red-coloured Easter egg with Christian cross, from the Saint Kosmas Aitolos Greek Orthodox Monastery Eggs in Christianity carry a Trinitarian symbolism as shell, yolk, and albumen are three parts of one egg.[16] According to many sources, the Christian custom of Easter eggs was adopted from Persian tradition into the early Christians of Mesopotamia, who stained them with red colouring "in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at His crucifixion".[7][17][6][8][9] The Christian Church officially adopted the custom, regarding the eggs as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus, with the Roman Ritual, the first edition of which was published in 1610 but which has texts of much older date, containing among the Easter Blessings of Food, one for eggs, along with those for lamb, bread, and new produce.[8][9]     Lord, let the grace of your blessing + come upon these eggs, that they be healthful food for your faithful who eat them in thanksgiving for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Sociology professor Kenneth Thompson discusses the spread of the Easter egg throughout Christendom, writing that "use of eggs at Easter seems to have come from Persia into the Greek Christian Churches of Mesopotamia, thence to Russia and Siberia through the medium of Orthodox Christianity. From the Greek Church the custom was adopted by either the Roman Catholics or the Protestants and then spread through Europe."[7] Both Thompson, as well as British orientalist Thomas Hyde state that in addition to dyeing the eggs red, the early Christians of Mesopotamia also stained Easter eggs green and yellow.[6][7] Peter Gainsford maintains that the association between eggs and Easter most likely arose in western Europe during the Middle Ages as a result of the fact that Catholic Christians were prohibited from eating eggs during Lent, but were allowed to eat them when Easter arrived.[10][11] Influential 19th century folklorist and philologist Jacob Grimm speculates, in the second volume of his Deutsche Mythologie, that the folk custom of Easter eggs among the continental Germanic peoples may have stemmed from springtime festivities of a Germanic goddess known in Old English as Ēostre (namesake of modern English Easter) and possibly known in Old High German as *Ostara (and thus namesake of Modern German Ostern 'Easter'). However, despite Grimm's speculation, there is no evidence to connect eggs with Ostara.[11] The use of eggs as favors or treats at Easter originated when they were prohibited during Lent.[10][11] A common practice in England in the medieval period was for children to go door-to-door begging for eggs on the Saturday before Lent began. People handed out eggs as special treats for children prior to their fast.[11] Although one of the Christian traditions are to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with candy such as jelly beans; as many people give up sweets as their Lenten sacrifice, individuals enjoy them at Easter after having abstained from them during the preceding forty days of Lent.[18] These eggs can be hidden for children to find on Easter morning, which may be left by the Easter Bunny. They may also be put in a basket filled with real or artificial straw to resemble a bird's nest. Traditions and customs Main articles: Egg decorating, Pisanica (Croatian), Pysanka, and Święconka Croatian Easter basket Blessing of Easter foods in Poland Red coloured Easter eggs Lenten tradition The Easter egg tradition may also have merged into the celebration of the end of the privations of Lent. Traditionally, eggs are among the foods forbidden fast days, including all of Lent, an observance which continues among the Eastern Christian Churches but has fallen into disuse in Western Christianity (although something similar has recently been instituted by a few as the “Daniel Fast"). Historically, it has been traditional to use up all of the household's eggs before Lent began. This established the tradition of Pancake Day being celebrated on Shrove Tuesday. This day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins, is also known as Mardi Gras, a French phrase which translates as "Fat Tuesday" to mark the last consumption of eggs and dairy before Lent begins. In the Orthodox Church, Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, rather than Wednesday, so the household's dairy products would be used up in the preceding week, called Cheesefare Week. During Lent, since chickens would not stop producing eggs during this time, a larger than usual store might be available at the end of the fast. This surplus, if any, had to be eaten quickly to prevent spoiling. Then, with the coming of Easter, the eating of eggs resumes. Some families cook a special meatloaf with eggs in it to be eaten with the Easter dinner. One would have been forced to hard boil the eggs that the chickens produced so as not to waste food, and for this reason the Spanish dish hornazo (traditionally eaten on and around Easter) contains hard-boiled eggs as a primary ingredient. In Hungary, eggs are used sliced in potato casseroles around the Easter period. Symbolism and related customs Some Christians symbolically link the cracking open of Easter eggs with the empty tomb of Jesus.[19] In the Orthodox churches, Easter eggs are blessed by the priest at the end of the Paschal Vigil (which is equivalent to Holy Saturday), and distributed to the faithful. The egg is seen by followers of Christianity as a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it.[3][4] Similarly, in the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, the so-called święconka, i.e. blessing of decorative baskets with a sampling of Easter eggs and other symbolic foods, is one of the most enduring and beloved Polish traditions on Holy Saturday. During Paschaltide, in some traditions the Pascal greeting with the Easter egg is even extended to the deceased. On either the second Monday or Tuesday of Pascha, after a memorial service people bring blessed eggs to the cemetery and bring the joyous paschal greeting, "Christ has risen", to their beloved departed (see Radonitza). In Greece, women traditionally dye the eggs with onion skins and vinegar on Thursday (also the day of Communion). These ceremonial eggs are known as kokkina avga. They also bake tsoureki for the Easter Sunday feast.[20] Red Easter eggs are sometimes served along the centerline of tsoureki (braided loaf of bread).[21][22] In Egypt, it is a tradition to decorate boiled eggs during Sham el-Nessim holiday, which falls every year after the Eastern Christian Easter. Coincidentally, every Passover, Jews place a hard-boiled egg on the Passover ceremonial plate, and the celebrants also eat hard-boiled eggs dipped in salt water as part of the ceremony. Colouring Easter eggs before and after colouring Heated wax paint used to decorate traditional Easter Eggs in the Czech Republic The dyeing of Easter eggs in different colours is commonplace, with colour being achieved through boiling the egg in natural substances (such as, onion peel (brown colour), oak or alder bark or walnut nutshell (black), beet juice (pink) etc.), or using artificial colourings. A greater variety of colour was often provided by tying on the onion skin with different coloured woollen yarn. In the North of England these are called pace-eggs or paste-eggs, from a dialectal form of Middle English pasche. King Edward I's household accounts in 1290 list an item of ‘one shilling and sixpence for the decoration and distribution of 450 Pace-eggs!’,[23] which were to be coloured or gilded and given to members of the royal household.[24] Traditionally in England, eggs were wrapped in onion skins and boiled to make their shells look like mottled gold, or wrapped in flowers and leaves first in order to leave a pattern, which parallels a custom practised in traditional Scandinavian culture.[25] Eggs could also be drawn on with a wax candle before staining, often with a person's name and date on the egg.[24] Pace Eggs were generally eaten for breakfast on Easter Sunday breakfast. Alternatively, they could be kept as decorations, used in egg-jarping (egg tapping) games, or given to Pace Eggers. In more recent centuries in England, eggs have been stained with coffee grains[24] or simply boiled and painted in their shells.[26] In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ, with further symbolism being found in the hard shell of the egg symbolizing the sealed Tomb of Christ — the cracking of which symbolized his resurrection from the dead. The tradition of red easter eggs was used by the Russian Orthodox Church.[27] The tradition to dyeing the easter eggs in an Onion tone exists in the cultures of Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Russia, Czechia, Romania, Slovenia, and Israel.[28] The colour is made by boiling onion peel in water.[29][30] Patterning When boiling them with onion skins, leaves can be attached prior to dyeing to create leaf patterns. The leaves are attached to the eggs before they are dyed with a transparent cloth to wrap the eggs with like inexpensive muslin or nylon stockings, leaving patterns once the leaves are removed after the dyeing process.[31][32] These eggs are part of Easter custom in many areas and often accompany other traditional Easter foods. Passover haminados are prepared with similar methods. Pysanky[33] are Ukrainian Easter eggs, decorated using a wax-resist (batik) method. The word comes from the verb pysaty, "to write", as the designs are not painted on, but written with beeswax. Decorating eggs for Easter using wax resistant batik is a popular method in some other eastern European countries. Use of Easter eggs in decorations In some Mediterranean countries, especially in Lebanon, chicken eggs are boiled and decorated by dye and/or painting and used as decoration[34] around the house. Then, on Easter Day, young kids would duel with them saying 'Christ is resurrected, Indeed, He is', breaking and eating them. This also happens in Georgia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine. In Easter Sunday friends and family hit each other's egg with their own. The one whose egg does not break is believed to be in for good luck in the future. In Germany, eggs decorate trees and bushes as Easter egg trees, and in several areas public wells as Osterbrunnen. There used to be a custom in Ukraine, during Easter celebrations to have krashanky on a table in a bowl with wheatgrass. The number of the krashanky equalled the number of departed family members.[35]     Ukrainian Easter eggs     Ukrainian Easter eggs     Easter eggs from Sorbs     Easter eggs from Sorbs     Easter eggs from Lithuania     Easter eggs from Lithuania     Perforated egg from Germany, Sleeping Beauty     Perforated egg from Germany, Sleeping Beauty     Norwegian Easter eggs     Norwegian Easter eggs     Easter eggs from Greece     Easter eggs from Greece     Perforated eggs     Perforated eggs     Easter eggs from France     Easter eggs from France     American Easter egg from the White House Washington, D.C.     American Easter egg from the White House Washington, D.C.     Pace eggs boiled with onion skins and leaf patterns.     Pace eggs boiled with onion skins and leaf patterns.     Easter eggs decorated with straw     Easter eggs decorated with straw     Easter egg from Poland     Easter egg from Poland     Washi egg from Japan     Washi egg from Japan Easter egg games Eggs hidden for an Easter egg hunt Egg hunts An egg hunt is a game in which decorated eggs, which may be hard-boiled chicken eggs, chocolate eggs, or artificial eggs containing candies, are hidden for children to find. The eggs often vary in size, and may be hidden both indoors and outdoors.[36] When the hunt is over, prizes may be given for the largest number of eggs collected, or for the largest or the smallest egg.[36] Some central European nations (Czechs and Slovaks etc.) have a tradition of gathering eggs by gaining them from the females in return of whipping them with a pony-tail shaped whip made out of fresh willow branches and splashing them with water, by the Ruthenians called polivanja, which is supposed to give them health and beauty. Cascarones, a Latin American tradition now shared by many US States with high Hispanic demographics, are emptied and dried chicken eggs stuffed with confetti and sealed with a piece of tissue paper. The eggs are hidden in a similar tradition to the American Easter egg hunt and when found the children (and adults) break them over each other's heads. In order to enable children to take part in egg hunts despite visual impairment, eggs have been created that emit various clicks, beeps, noises, or music so that visually impaired children can easily hunt for Easter eggs.[37] Egg rolling Egg rolling is also a traditional Easter egg game played with eggs at Easter. In the United Kingdom, Germany, and other countries children traditionally rolled eggs down hillsides at Easter.[38] This tradition was taken to the New World by European settlers,[38][39] and continues to this day each Easter with an Easter egg roll on the White House lawn. Rutherford B. Hayes started the tradition of the Easter Egg Roll at the White House.[40] The Easter Monday Egg Roll was normally held at the United States Capitol, however, by the mid-1870s, Congress passed a law forbidding the Capitol’s grounds to be used for the activity due to the toll it was taking on the landscape.[40] The law was enforced in 1877, but the rain that year canceled all outdoor activities.[40] In 1878, Hayes was approached by many young easter egg rollers who asked for the event to be held at the White House.[40] He invited any children who wanted to roll eggs to come to the White House in order to do so. The tradition still occurs every year on the South Lawn of the White House. Now, there are many other games and activities that take place such as “Egg Picking” and “Egg Ball.”[40] Different nations have different versions of the Easter Egg roll game. Egg tapping Eggs after an egg tapping competition (red wins) In the North of England, during Eastertide, a traditional game is played where hard boiled pace eggs are distributed and each player hits the other player's egg with their own. This is known as "egg tapping", "egg dumping", or "egg jarping". The winner is the holder of the last intact egg. The annual egg jarping world championship is held every year over Easter in Peterlee, Durham.[41] It is also practiced in Italy (where it is called scuccetta), Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia (where it is called turčanje or trkanje), Ukraine, Russia, and other countries. In parts of Austria, Bavaria and German-speaking Switzerland it is called Ostereiertitschen or Eierpecken. In parts of Europe it is also called epper, presumably from the German name Opfer, meaning "offering" and in Greece it is known as tsougrisma. In South Louisiana, this practice is called pocking eggs[42][43] and is slightly different. The Louisiana Creoles hold that the winner eats the eggs of the losers in each round. In the Greek Orthodox tradition, red eggs are also cracked together when people exchange Easter greetings. Egg dance Egg dance is a traditional Easter game in which eggs are laid on the ground or floor and the goal is to dance among them without damaging any eggs[44] which originated in Germany. Pace egg plays The Pace Egg plays are traditional village plays, with a rebirth theme. The drama takes the form of a combat between the hero and villain, in which the hero is killed and brought back to life. The plays take place in England during Easter. In some countries like Sweden, Norway, Poland and Germany eggs are used as a table decoration hanging on a tree-branch Variants Chocolate Chocolate eggs first appeared at the court of Louis XIV in Versailles and in 1725 the widow Giambone in Turin started producing chocolate eggs by filling empty chicken egg shells with molten chocolate.[45] In 1873 J.S. Fry & Sons of England introduced the first chocolate Easter egg in Britain. Manufacturing their first Easter egg in 1875, Cadbury created the modern chocolate Easter egg after developing a pure cocoa butter that could be moulded into smooth shapes.[46] In Western cultures, the giving of chocolate eggs is now commonplace, with 80 million Easter eggs sold in the UK alone. Formerly, the containers Easter eggs were sold in contained large amounts of plastic, although in the United Kingdom this has gradually been replaced with recyclable paper and cardboard.[47]     Chocolate Easter egg bunny     Chocolate Easter egg bunny     Easter egg with candy.     Easter egg with candy.     Gladys as a Chocolate Easter Bunny with Easter eggs     Gladys as a Chocolate Easter Bunny with Easter eggs     Kinder Surprise Egg, manufactured by Italian company Ferrero SpA     Kinder Surprise Egg, manufactured by Italian company Ferrero SpA Marzipan eggs In the Indian state of Goa, the Goan Catholic version of marzipan is used to make easter eggs. In the Philippines, mazapán de pili (Spanish for "pili marzipan") is made from pili nuts.     Marzipan easter eggs     Marzipan easter eggs Artificial eggs The jewelled Easter eggs made by the Fabergé firm for the two last Russian Tsars are regarded as masterpieces of decorative arts. Most of these creations themselves contained hidden surprises such as clock-work birds, or miniature ships. In Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and other Central European countries' folk traditions, Easter eggs are carved from wood and hand-painted, and making artificial eggs out of porcelain for ladies is common.[48]: 45  Easter eggs are frequently depicted in sculpture, including a 8-metre (27 ft) sculpture of a pysanka standing in Vegreville, Alberta.     Fabergé egg     Fabergé egg     Giant easter egg, Bariloche, Argentina     Giant easter egg, Bariloche, Argentina     Giant pysanka from Vegreville, Alberta, Canada     Giant pysanka from Vegreville, Alberta, Canada     Giant easter egg or pisanica in Zagreb, Croatia     Giant easter egg or pisanica in Zagreb, Croatia     Easter egg sculpture in Gogolin, Poland     Easter egg sculpture in Gogolin, Poland     Giant easter egg in Suceava, Romania     Giant easter egg in Suceava, Romania Legends Maria Magdalene, 1899 by Viktor M. Vasnetsov, depicted as one of the Myrrhbearers. Christian traditions While the origin of Easter eggs can be explained in the symbolic terms described above, among followers of Eastern Christianity the legend says that Mary Magdalene was bringing cooked eggs to share with the other women at the tomb of Jesus, and the eggs in her basket miraculously turned bright red when she saw the risen Christ.[49] A different, but not necessarily conflicting legend concerns Mary Magdalene's efforts to spread the Gospel. According to this tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with "Christ has risen," whereupon he 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.[50][51] Red Easter eggs, known as kokkina avga (κόκκινα αυγά) in Greece and krashanki in Ukraine, are an Easter tradition and a distinct type of Easter egg prepared by various Orthodox Christian peoples.[52][53][54][55][56] The red eggs are part of Easter custom in many areas and often accompany other traditional Easter foods. Passover haminados are prepared with similar methods. Dark red eggs are a tradition in Greece and represent the blood of Christ shed on the cross.[57] The practice dates to the early Christian church in Mesopotamia.[8][9] In Greece, superstitions of the past included the custom of placing the first-dyed red egg at the home's iconostasis (place where icons are displayed) to ward off evil. The heads and backs of small lambs were also marked with the red dye to protect them. Parallels in other faiths Eggs at the Iranian Nowruz The egg is widely used as a symbol of the start of new life, just as new life emerges from an egg when the chick hatches out.[2] Painted eggs are used at the Iranian spring holidays, the Nowruz that marks the first day of spring or Equinox, and the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. The painted eggs symbolize fertility and are displayed on the Nowruz table, called Haft-Seen together with various other symbolic objects. There are sometimes one egg for each member of the family. The ancient Zoroastrians painted eggs for Nowruz, their New Year celebration, which falls on the Spring equinox. The tradition continues among Persians of Islamic, Zoroastrian, and other faiths today.[58] The Nowruz tradition has existed for at least 2,500 years. The sculptures on the walls of Persepolis show people carrying eggs for Nowruz to the king.[citation needed] The Neopagan holiday of Ostara occurs at roughly the same time as Easter. While it is often claimed that the use of painted eggs is an ancient, pre-Christian component of the celebration of Ostara, there are no historical accounts that ancient celebrations included this practice, apart from the Old High German lullaby which is believed by most to be a modern fabrication. Rather, the use of painted eggs has been adopted under the assumption that it might be a pre-Christian survival. In fact, modern scholarship has been unable to trace any association between eggs and a supposed goddess named Ostara before the 19th century, when early folklorists began to speculate about the possibility.[59] There are good grounds for the association between hares (later termed Easter bunnies) and bird eggs, through folklore confusion between hares' forms (where they raise their young) and plovers' nests.[60] In Judaism, a hard-boiled egg is an element of the Passover Seder, representing festival sacrifice. The children's game of hunting for the afikomen (a half-piece of matzo) has similarities to the Easter egg hunt tradition, by which the child who finds the hidden matzah will be awarded a prize. In other homes, the children hide the afikoman and a parent must look for it; when the parents give up, the children demand a prize for revealing its location." (wikipedia.org) "A garden tool is any one of many tools made for gardening and landscaping, which overlap with the range of tools made for agriculture and horticulture. Garden tools can be divided into hand tools and power tools. Hand tools Main article: Hand tool Today's garden tools originated with the earliest agricultural implements used by humans. Examples include the hatchet, axe, sickle, scythe, pitchfork, spade, shovel, trowel, hoe, fork, and rake. In some places, the machete is common. The earliest tools were made variously of wood, flint, metal, tin, and bone. The development of metalworking, first in copper and later in bronze, iron, and steel, produced today's durable tools, including such efficient cutting tools as pruning shears (secateurs – for example anvil pruners), grass shears, and loppers. Increasing use of modern alloys allows many tools to be made both stronger and lighter, making them more durable and easier to use." (wikipedia.org) "Gingham, also called Vichy check, is a medium-weight balanced plain-woven fabric typically with striped, check or plaid duotone patterns, in bright colour and in white made from dyed cotton or cotton-blend yarns. It is made of carded, medium or fine yarns.[1][2] History The name may originate from Malay genggang 'ajar, separate.'[3][4] Alternatively, it is speculated that the fabric now known as gingham may have been made at Guingamp, a town in Brittany, France, and that the fabric may be named after the town.[5] Some sources say that the name came into English via Dutch.[6][7] When originally imported into Europe in the 17th century, gingham was a striped fabric, though now it is distinguished by its checkered pattern. From the mid-18th century, when it was being produced in the mills of Manchester, England, it started to be woven into checked or plaid patterns (often blue and white). Checked gingham became more common over time, though striped gingham was still available in the late Victorian period.[8] The equivalent in French is the noun vichy, from the town of Vichy, France. The same word is used in Spain, where this pattern is called "cuadro vichy" or "estampado vichy." In the United States, the mass popularity of men's blue and white gingham-patterned shirts in the 2010s led to critical media coverage of the phenomenon.[9][10][11] Use Gingham patterns in a 1911 Macy's catalogue Gingham fabric was popular to use in various dress material such as shirts, skirts, maxi and also for some home furnishing such as towels and curtains. Along with muslin, gingham is often used as a test fabric while designing fashion or used for making an inexpensive fitting shell prior to making the clothing in fashion fabric. Gingham shirts have been worn by mods since the 1960s and continue to be identified with fans of indie and mod music with brands like Lambretta Clothing, Ben Sherman, Fred Perry, Penguin and Merc producing gingham shirts.[12][13] In the United Kingdom, the gingham pattern is often used for younger girls' school uniforms.[14] In popular culture     The Eugene Field poem "The Duel" concerns a duel between a "gingham dog" and a "calico cat."     In Tell Taylor's popular song "Down By the Old Mill Stream" (1908), "You" was "dressed in gingham, too."     Brigitte Bardot famously wore a pink gingham dress when she got married. This started a trend which caused a shortage of this fabric in France.     Manchester United F.C. wore a gingham-pattern shirt during the 2012–13 season.[15]     Dorothy Gale wore a blue gingham dress in the Wizard of Oz book and film.     Mary Ann Summers on Gilligan's Island often wore a gingham dress.     Bill Hicks made reference to gingham in his famous stand-up comedy routine in regard to Jack Palance from the 1953 movie Shane.     Gingham dresses were standard attire for most female performers on the Grand Ole Opry until the 1960s,[16] such that the dress code was jocularly known as the "Gingham Curtain" until Jeannie Seely pushed for its abolition.[17]     In Marty Robbins's Grammy-winning song "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife" (1970), he mentions his wife "in a dress made of gingham".[18][19]     In the Captain Beefheart song "My Human Gets Me Blues" from the album Trout Mask Replica (1969), he sings “I saw you baby, dancin' in your x-ray gingham dress.”     Japanese girl group AKB48 used gingham as a general theme for their 2012 single "Gingham Check."     The XTC song "Pink Thing" contains the line "If you could only see the way the gingham swirls."" (wikipedia.org) "A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys or cuddly toys. The stuffed toy originated from the Steiff company of Germany in the late 19th century and gained popularity following the creation of the teddy bear in the United States in 1903, at the same time the German toy inventor Richard Steiff designed a similar bear. In 1903, Peter Rabbit was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy. In the 1970s, London-based Hamleys, the world's oldest toy store, bought the rights to Paddington Bear stuffed toys. In the 1990s, Ty Warner created Beanie Babies, a series of animals stuffed with plastic pellets that were popular as collector's items. Stuffed toys are made in many different forms, but most resemble real animals (sometimes with exaggerated proportions or features), legendary creatures, cartoon characters, or inanimate objects. They can be commercially or home-produced from numerous materials, most commonly pile textiles like plush for the outer material and synthetic fiber for the stuffing. Often these toys are designed for children, but stuffed toys are popular for a range of ages and uses, and have been marked by fads in popular culture that sometimes affected collectors and the value of the toys. Description Stuffed toy animals for sale Stuffed toys are distinguishable from other toys mainly by their softness, flexibility, and resemblance to animals or fictional characters. Stuffed toys most commonly take the form of animals, especially bears (in the case of teddy bears), mammalian pets such as cats and dogs, and highly recognizable animals such as zebras, tigers, pandas, lizards, and elephants. Many fictional animal-like characters from movies, TV shows, books, or other entertainment forms often appear in stuffed toy versions, as do both real and fictional humans if the individual or character is famous enough. These toys are filled with soft plush material. Stuffed toys come in an array of different sizes, with the smallest being thumb-sized and the largest being larger than a house.[1][2] However, the largest somewhat commonly produced stuffed animals are not much bigger than a person.[citation needed] Most stuffed animals are designed to be an appropriate size for easy handling. They also come in a wide variety of colors, cloth surfaces, fur textures, and humanizing embellishments. Stuffed toys are commonly sold in stores worldwide. Vendors are often abundant at tourist attractions, airports, carnivals, fairs, downtown parks, and general public meeting places of almost any nature, especially if there are children present. History 1903 patent for a Peter Rabbit toy created by Beatrix Potter. They were first mass produced in 1904. The first stuffed toy was a felt elephant originally sold as a pincushion, created by the German Steiff company in 1880.[3] Steiff used newly developed technology for manufacturing upholstery to make its stuffed toys.[4] In 1892, the Ithaca Kitty became one of the first mass-produced stuffed animal toys in the United States, which was sold as "The Tabby Cat" printed pattern on muslin by Arnold Print Works.[5] Homemade sock monkeys have been part of U.S. and Canadian culture since the Great Depression. The toy industry significantly expanded in the early 20th century. In 1903, Richard Steiff designed a soft stuffed bear that differed from earlier traditional rag dolls because it was made of plush furlike fabric.[4] At the same time, in the US, Morris Michtom created the first teddy bear after being inspired by a drawing of President "Teddy" Roosevelt with a bear cub.[6] In 1903, the character Peter Rabbit from English author Beatrix Potter was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy.[7][8] The popularity of stuffed toys grew, with numerous manufacturers forming in Germany, the United Kingdom,[3] and the United States.[4] Many people also handmade their own stuffed toys. For instance, sock monkeys originated when parents turned old socks into toys during the Great Depression.[9] Stuffed toys of Paddington Bear, a character created by Michael Bond, were first produced by the family of Jeremy Clarkson in 1972, with the family eventually selling the rights to London-based Hamleys, the world's oldest toy store.[10] More recent lines of stuffed animals have been created around unique concepts, like Uglydoll, introduced in 2001, with a number of recognizable characters and overarching style.[11] Modern plushies from Japan are known for kawaii styles, generally thought of as (at least globally) starting with Sanrio's Hello Kitty, with many popular characters from popular media like Pikachu and Eevee from Pokémon, and characters from stationery company San-X including Rilakkuma and the Sumikko Gurashi characters.[12] There is also a trend of Japanese plushies being shaped like mochi. Psychology See also: Comfort object Children as well as adults can form connections with their stuffed toys, often sleeping or cuddling with them for comfort. They can be sentimental objects that reduce anxiety around separation, self-esteem, and fear of the night.[13] In 2019 about a third of British adults reported sleeping with soft toys, and almost half had kept their childhood toys.[14] Production A teddies shop in Lima, Peru Stuffed toys are made from a range of materials. The earliest were created from felt, velvet, or mohair and stuffed with straw, horsehair, or sawdust.[3][15] Following World War II, manufacturers began to adopt more synthetic materials into production,[3] and in 1954, the first teddy bear made from easily washable materials was produced.[1] Modern stuffed toys are commonly constructed of outer fabrics such as plain cloth, pile textiles like plush or terrycloth, or sometimes socks. Common stuffing materials include synthetic fiber, batting, cotton, straw, wood wool, plastic pellets, and beans. Some modern toys incorporate technology to move and interact with the user.[16] Manufacturers sell two main types of stuffed toys: licensed, which are toys of characters or other licensed properties, or basic, which take the shape of ordinary animals or other non-licensed subjects.[16] Stuffed toys can also be homemade from numerous types of fabric or yarn. For instance, amigurumi is a traditional Japanese type of knitted or crocheted stuffed toy typically made with an oversized head and undersized extremities to look kawaii ('cute').[17][18] Cultural impact, marketing, and collectors Stuffed toys are among the most popular toys, especially for children. Their uses include imaginative play, comfort objects, display or collecting, and gifts to both children and adults for occasions such as graduation, illness, condolences, Valentine's Day, Christmas, or birthdays. In 2018, the global market for stuffed toys was estimated to be US$7.98 billion, with the growth in target consumers expected to drive sales upwards.[19] A stuffed penguin. Fads Some Beanie Babies on display by a collector Many stuffed toys have become fads that have boosted the industry overall.[16] Teddy bears were an early fad that quickly grew into a cultural phenomenon.[4] Close to 100 years later, in the 1990s, Ty Warner created Beanie Babies, a series of animals stuffed with plastic pellets. The toys became a fad through marketing strategies that increased demand and encouraged collection.[20][21] Pillow Pets, which can be folded from a pillow into a stuffed animal, were another successful brand, launching in 2003 and selling more than 30 million toys between 2010 and 2016.[22] Other recent fads have involved toys paired with technology. Tickle Me Elmo, a laughing and shaking plush toy based on the character Elmo from the Sesame Street television show, was released in 1996 and was soon in demand, with some people buying and reselling the toy for hundreds of dollars.[23] This popularity sparked similar fads, including the robotic talking plush toy Furby released in 1998[24] and ZhuZhu Pets, a line of robotic plush hamsters released in 2009.[25][26] The internet also presented an opportunity for new stuffed toy fads. In 2005, Ganz launched its Webkinz stuffed toys, which each came with a different "Secret Code" that gave access to the Webkinz World website and a virtual version of the toy for online play.[27][28] Webkinz's success inspired the creation of other stuffed toys containing codes to unlock digital content, such as the former online worlds Disney's Club Penguin and Build-A-Bearville from Build-A-Bear Workshop. In 2013, Disney launched its first collection of Disney Tsum Tsum stuffed toys based on characters from different Disney properties. Inspired by the popular app of the same name, Tsum Tsums were first released in Japan (an example of mochi shaped plushies) before expanding to the United States.[29] More recently, in 2021, Squishmallows have made an appearance as a popular internet fad and collector's item." (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: Used
  • Condition: In very good, pre-owned condition. See photos and description.
  • Brand: Unbranded
  • Type: Stuffed Figure
  • Occasion: Easter
  • Size: Medium
  • Color: Multicolor
  • Item Height: 18 in
  • Theme: Animals & Dinosaurs, Fantasy, Farm Animals, Fun & Curiosity, Seasonal, Wildlife
  • Material: Fabric
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: China
  • Room: Any Room, Basement, Bedroom, Den, Dining Room, Entryway, Foyer, Greenhouse, Guestroom, Kitchen, Living Room, Lounge, Office, Patio, Porch, Study, Sunroom, Terrace

PicClick Insights - SITTING RABBIT GARDENER FIGURE 18" Easter bunny starched fabric textured Spring PicClick Exclusive

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