Signs of Spring are usually evident by now (although in Britain we've had an unusually harsh winter, resulting in the Goddess having a lie-in!)
Normally, here in Britain we would have had snowdrops, crocuses and hazel catkins, and be well into daffodils, violets and tulips. Brrrr!This was originally one of the Druidic Solar Observances, along with fall Equinox and the two Solstices, and as such, I find it somewhat less satisfying in terms of ritual content. Of course there is the usual stuff, eggs, new life, etc., to celebrate, but much of it we share with other faiths. What makes it unique for Pagans? I really don't know. The Full Moon immediately after Spring Equinox marks the start of the Jewish Passover, which accounts for the date of Easter being variable, due to the Jewish calendar still being a lunar one.
Like Christmas, Easter has become a commercial event, our stores being flooded with chocolate eggs and rabbits. But, do you know that the Easter Bunny is an Imposter?
Oh yes! Let me tell you the real story.In Britain we have a ground nesting bird called the lapwing, aka plover, aka peewit. this bird does not build a nest, just lays it's eggs on the ground in a grass scrape (you'd think they'd have become extinct, wouldn't you, with all the animals and humans crunching about?). Anyway, we also have the Hare, sacred animal of the Goddess, who doesn't dig burrows like the rabbit, but lies in a grass scrape called a form. Country folk from hundreds of years back used to find clutches of eggs in what apeared to be hares' forms, put two and two together and, getting their sums wrong assumed they were the eggs of the Hare. So, season of rebirth, eggs as symbol of rebirth, Godess of Spring and Her creature, the Hare. Here we have the origins of the Easter Bunny.
Hope you enjoyed that.
Cheers, Ayana
