Spring Sphere (Easter egg)
One Seattle, Washington, school supposedly told a student that she could make “spring spheres,” but not “Easter eggs.” (This April 2011 story has been disputed.) The “spring sphere” euphemism quickly went viral on the Internet as an excessive example of political correctness.
There are many similar examples of “Easter” being replaced by “Spring.” An Easter egg hunt/roll has sometimes been renamed a “Spring egg hunt/roll.”
Wikipedia: Easter egg
Easter eggs or spring eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.
The egg is a pagan symbol of the rebirth of the Earth in celebrations of spring and was adopted by early Christians as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus.
The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. These eggs are often hidden, allegedly by the Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning. Otherwise, they are generally put in a basket filled with real or artificial straw to resemble a bird’s nest.
MyNorthwest.com
April 7, 2011
Updated Apr 13, 2011 - 4:01 pm
Seattle school renames Easter eggs ‘Spring Spheres’
By Stephanie Klein
A sophomore at a local private high school thinks an effort to make Easter politically correct is ridiculous.
Jessica, 16, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show that a week before spring break, the students commit to a week-long community service project. She decided to volunteer in a third grade class at a public school, which she would like to remain nameless.
“At the end of the week I had an idea to fill little plastic eggs with treats and jelly beans and other candy, but I was kind of unsure how the teacher would feel about that,” Jessica said.
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“I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration to see if it was okay,” Jessica explained. “She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs.”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer—Seattle’s Big Blog
Posted by Vanessa Ho on April 13, 2011 at 1:29 pm
Seattle teacher renames Easter eggs ‘spring spheres’? Maybe not, officials say
As Easter approaches, there’s been a lot of chatter about a Seattle Public Schools teacher who allegedly required a volunteer student in her class to call Easter eggs “spring spheres.”
Interesting story on government neutralizing of religious holidays. But is it true?
Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman Teresa Wippel said Wednesday that the district does have a policy on religious holidays, but that it has not confirmed that the “spring sphere” incident actually happened. And the reporting so far has been a little vague.
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True or not, Spheregate follows a few other well-known non-promotions of holidays. The city of Seattle purposely leaves out the word “Easter” from its annual community-center “spring egg hunts.”