We continue the occasional series wherein Winston expounds on things that currently make him happy.

Last week it was music; this week it's not. But, once again, he's very happy. As happy as an Easter bunny. As happy as a spiritual sexual shamanic seeder. 'Did I really read that?” you're thinking. Yep. No wonder Winston's so happy. Read on and all will be revealed…

143) Easter bunnies!

I like bunnies. Bunnies give me great pleasure, whether feeding or eating them. Next Thursday, April 9), Animates on Cameron Rd is having a session at 11am called ‘Learn all about Easter Animals'. They will no doubt have bunnies galore. And the aim is 'for kids to learn all about rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens”.

Now, a pedantic person would be tempted to question the inclusion of guinea pigs. Rabbits are clearly very important to Easter, as are chickens, which would lay all those chocolate eggs if it weren't for the chocolate chickens? But guinea pigs?

Actually, they could have a significance previously unknown to me since I realise the only thing I know about the cute li'l critters is they feature prominently in the national cuisine of Peru. With the current popularity of all foods South American I guess we can expect to see them at gourmet markets in Tauranga any day now.

But, being Easter, it does seem like a good time to remind ourselves how the bunny inserted itself into such a deeply religious long weekend.

Turns out that the Easter Bunny (or Rabbit or Hare) can be traced back to 13th Century, pre-Christian German folklore.

Eventually it became a bit of a Santa Claus figure among German Lutherans, playing the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or bad at the start of the season of Eastertide and then delivering eggs and gifts.

This custom spread from Germany to other parts of Europe and, in the 18th Century, to America, where it launched the ringing of countless thousand tills.

One place it didn't catch on was Sweden, despite German immigrants introducing the story in the late 19th Century.

Thanks to a misunderstanding of the Swedish word for the Easter Hare, Paskharen - which sounds very similar to Paskkarlen, meaning the Easter Wizard – the Swedish tradition of the Easter Wizard bringing eggs for Easter was born.

Meanwhile, the hare was also a popular motif in medieval church art, popping up regularly in paintings of the virgin and child, though for somewhat ironic and misguided reasons.

The ancient Greek contention, from Pliny and Plutarch and other famous folk, that hares were hermaphrodites proved historically hard to dispel; and the misapprehension that hares could reproduce without loss of virginity led the Catholic Church, with its laser-like accuracy about all matters sexual, to associate them with the Virgin Mary. Hmmm…

144) Spiritual Sexual Shamanic Seeding! Or to give it the full title: ISTA Spiritual Sexual Shamanic Seeding Level 3 (SSSSEED).

In case you weren't aware, this particular week-long course, six 13-hour days, is taking place right now in Tauranga and costs $2050.

Sadly that figure slightly exceeds my weekly expense account here at The Sun (though, to give the course its due, it does include food). In lieu of attending I've been examining the promotional literature.

Allow me to quote the first paragraph: 'This training is for those who have completed SSSex (Spiritual Sexual Shamanic Experience Level 1) and SSSIn (Spiritual Sexual Shamanic Initiation Level 2)”.

'It deepens the identification with the universal and is designed to strengthen the core capacity for authentic presence. This highlights each person's essential gifts and challenges as they seed their work in the world.”

And here's a bit from later on:

'Each time a training takes place or a conference is held then a vortex of energy descends from the solid foundation of ISTA and for a week or a weekend a temple of the new civilization stands and then is reabsorbed into the inner landscape.”
Mother always told me it's wrong to make fun of other people.

So I wouldn't dream of it.