Easter and the meaning of life
Striped Insights
-Hey, Okapi, how are you today? Are you looking forward to Easter? Zebra asks as a greeting.
-I'm happy that the days are getting longer again and it's wonderful to go for a walk now... the fruit trees are blossoming and beautiful songs accompany my steps in the forest... anywhere actually where there are trees... As you know, my other favourite animals besides you and many others are birds, and I find it just incredibly inspiring to listen to them, these melodies.... No wonder humans have felt inspired to make music too.
-I notice you're getting all poetic yourself... comments Zebra with a hint of a smile, which immediately evaporates again. -Unfortunately, the fact is that now humans are buying loads of eggs again and eating lambs later and this knowledge makes me helpless and sad, and it robs me of energy when I think about the world we live in.
-Not quite so depressed, my dear little animal, Okapi says gently. -I know, I feel the same way, I also have to concentrate on the fact that a few people have now understood - some of them probably always have - that animals are also alive and, just like humans, feel that their lives are valuable...
Zebra interrupts. -There are well-founded assumptions that animals are very empathetic, even more empathetic than humans. And that brings me to a terrible story, which is why I seem so depressed to you today. I've heard that a new sheep has arrived at an animal sanctuary and that it has never seen sunlight before. That it can now feel the wind and warmth on its fur for the first time in its life and get to know the world outside a cellar. This sheep was a ‘side sheep’ - that's what it was called. Zebra snorts indignantly when he hears this patronising term.
-That sounds terrible. And what's that supposed to be, a side sheep?
-A side sheep is supposed to keep the other lab animals company. The lab was in a basement. And if you imagine that this sheep was taken to comfort the other animals, you have to assume that the humans responsible for that know exactly that this animal is very sensitive and empathetic. And that's exactly what makes me very, very irritated and really sad. What's more, these people also know that the other animals are suffering and therefore need to be comforted a little bit at least. They consciously put up with it. It's cynical and cruel.
-I understand you well, sighs Okapi, -but I still want to cheer you up... maybe we'll visit this sheep that finally has a nice life, at last, at this animal sanctuary. I know it and it's really nice.
-Yes, that's what we do. I would also like to remind all the humans who come into contact with me, who read my texts and perhaps hear my thoughts or see me, that Easter can also do very well without eating animals and products from their bodies. Easter is not at all about sacrificing and killing anyone. Easter is the ancient festival of spring awakening and life! It is absurd to kill or exploit animals for it.
-With mainstream festivities, you might think it's more about a death cult than a celebration of life, muses Okapi. -But how did these celebrations begin? As an educated zebra, what do you know about it?
-There was a sun festival that some associate with the Celtic goddess Ostara. In keeping with the season and the longer days, she symbolised the reawakening of spring and light, as well as life and fertility. She is also said to be associated with the hare.
-Voilà, enter the Easter bunny. But the hare, as the moon hare, is also the sacred animal of the goddess of dawn, adds Okapi and adds: -I have also heard of another ancient goddess who still influences the festivities today: the bird goddess. That's why the egg is important.
-It's just funny that people value the revered symbol by eating it. And those who produce it at the same time. There's something pathological about it... if you ask me, Zebra states with conviction.
-Your diagnosis sounds plausible. I tend to stick to the Easter braid. Its three braided strands can be understood as a symbol for the trinity of Ostara - as virgin, mother and old woman. In a Christian context, it symbolises the Holy Trinity.
-Regardless of the world view: love and empathy create solidarity. The adorable sheep, which finally has a life that can be described as such, reminds us of this. It's heartbreaking that it has been a comfort to other animals who will probably never come out. So I will continue to endeavour to change these antediluvian ways of dealing with sensitive creatures.
- So be it. I'm in, says Okapi.
-And so it is, replies Zebra.