Easter and Spring celebrated by many

Easter is considered the most important day of the Christian calendar. It is a moving holiday, held the first Sunday following the first full moon (Paschal or Passover Moon) following the March equinox by the Western (Roman) Catholic Church and Protestant denominations. The Eastern Catholic Churches follow the Julian calendar, so Easter is not always the same date as the Western rite. 

As a Christian holiday, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth following his crucifixion. Though the date of the equinox changes, the Western Church uses March 21 for consistency and uses calculated dates for future full moons. The Eastern Church uses an alternative calculation for Easter based on the Julian calendar (in the Julian calendar, what is March 21 on the Georgian calendar is April 3 on the Julian) and it determines that Easter must fall after Passover. This year the The Roman Catholic and Protestant Easter is April 9 while the Eastern Church’s Easter is April 16. 

Although a lunar holiday, based in part on the Jewish holiday Passover, it has origins as a spring solar event. Many practices date back to pagan traditions. Spring images such as flowers, eggs, chicks and rabbits are found throughout many Christian and pagan traditions in both Europe and the New World.

With spring comes new life and many symbols of Easter, like the egg, indicate new life. Many American families paint and hide chicken eggs for children to find Easter morning. In parts of Europe children often receive large chocolate eggs. 

Rabbits are also a fixture of the day, since they are known for having many litters in spring and summer. According to the National Park Service, a female desert cottontail (a native of San Benito County) will have two to six litters of one to five young per year. 

According to the Smithsonian Institute, the Easter Bunny began life as the Easter Hare and Jacob Grimm (of the Brothers Grimm) argued that the Easter Hare was connected to a goddess Ostara in ancient Germany. It is thought German immigrants brought the Easter Bunny to North America.

While Christians celebrate Easter, pagans celebrate spring and Jewish people observe Passover during that same time, people following Islam celebrate Ramadan.

Passover celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The Book of Exodus says God spared the life of Israelites whose homes were marked with the blood of a lamb, while striking the firstborn of Egyptians with a deadly plague. He “passed over” their homes.

According to Britannica, Ramadan is period of introspection, communal prayer and reading of the Quran and fasting. God forgives the past sins of those who observe the holy month with fasting, prayer, and faithful intention.

Britainnica also notes the Hindu spring celebration, Holi, as an event observed throughout North India on the full-moon day of Phalguna (February–March). Participants throw coloured water and powders on one another and rankings of caste, gender, status, and age to be reversed. Celebrations are often marked by ribald language and behavior, and at its conclusion everyone bathes, dresses in clean white clothes and visits friends, relatives and the ordered roles of society are renewed.

Buddhism too celebrates the equinox. According to The Guibord Center, Higan-e is a Mahayana Buddhists weeklong festival observed at the spring and autumn equinoxes. Higan means to reach the other shore, that is to reach Nirvana or Enlightenment. It teaches six components: giving, precepts, perseverance, diligence, zazen (meditation), and wisdom. By practicing these, believers strive to rise above the world of delusion and reach Enlightenment.

During the festivals participants offer rice cakes and sweets at the family altar, make offerings to Buddha at temples and pay respects to ancestors at the cemetery.

In much of the Northern hemisphere spring comes after a cold, dark winter and signs of life are celebrated in different ways but with new life and changes entering many cultures’ festivities.

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