by Janet Perry

Created on: April 10, 2009   Last Updated: April 21, 2009

Beautiful young girls, dressed in their Spring finery, and carrying baskets of beautifully decorated eggs. This is a scene repeated around the world each Spring. Some will visit their friends homes and giggling, spread flower seeds in the lawns and gardens, promising wild and wonderful flowers popping up in random places. They are mimicking and honoring the young goddess Eostre.

Early Anglo-Saxons honored the return of Spring with this young goddess, Eostre. The story says that a little rabbit so loved the young goddess that he brought her a beautiful basket of decorated eggs. She in turn is a promise of fertility, blessing the village with her presence. She is sometimes referred to as the Goddess of the dawn, which is how the word 'East' was coined, as well as the word "Easter'.

For early pagans, the forests were there for the foraging, and eggs were gathered from wild nests. It could be that the 'basket' was originally a nest, decorated with ribbons and festive colors. The womb-like egg has been used world-wide as a symbol of fertility. The basket of eggs is symbolic therefore, of the continued fertility of the people and their crops for another year.

There are many variations to the Spring-Equinox story, according to the region the story comes from. The color of the eggs, the way they are decorated, how they're carried, and to whom. Invariably, the story is about resurrection from the depths of winter, and the emergence of Spring and its promise of fertility. In earlier days, this was a great time of celebration. Finally the cold, dark winter and its hunger would be over and Spring's sunrises brought warmth and a promise of bounty. The Spring Equinox was often celebrated at dawn; honoring the rising of the sun.

Christianity came later than the original Pagan Spring-time stories. The decorating of eggs continues through these later traditions, and with the same basic idea of honoring resurrection and fertility. This continued use of our old symbols reveals the strength of our ancestors faith in their traditions. Christianity incorporated what it could not conquer. giving pagans a link between their old traditions and the new ones being forced on them. This is why there are always similarities between the Equinox and Solstice traditions, and the Christian holiday that occurs close enough for the similarities to be noticed, and yet, far enough away to not be seen as the same.

So, when you're decorating your Easter eggs this year, remember those early folks, gathering eggs from the forest and rejoicing over the first buds popping up through the ground. Their hearts were probably filled with joy and thankfulness. Spring was cause for celebration. Happy Easter!

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