Alex dunks his first egg in a spring green dye, his favorite color. They have stickers of bunnies, chicks and flowers they are using to decorate the eggs; all the typical images that represent springtime. Coloring eggs and participating in Easter egg hunts is a tradition on Easter, the Christian holiday celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus. However, many of these customs were derived from pre-Christian springtime festivals of renewal that are anciently and deeply embedded in our culture.

Easter traditions span a variety of practices.

Each spring, children look forward to receiving Easter baskets filled with confections like marshmallow chicks, chocolate bunnies and candy eggs. Last year Tyler found his Easter basket in the dishwasher. He’s not sure where the Easter Bunny will hide it this year. Thumbing through family photos, their mother remembers frilly Easter dresses that she and her cousins used to wear and songs like Peter Cottontail.

“For me, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus,” says Bethany Forbes, a teacher of religious education classes at Saint Gabriel Catholic Church, “Ash Wednesday starts Lent, the 40 days before Easter when we prepare our minds and bodies for this special day.” She adds that Lent involves fasting, penance and extra prayers.

For those who refer to themselves as “pagans,” Easter’s themes of rebirth began in pre-Christian times. The first civilizations, before Jesus’ crucifixion, rejoiced in the coming of spring. It was celebrated as the season of rebirth, of nature’s returning from the season of death (winter) and coming back to life.

“For Wiccans like me, the vernal equinox has deep spiritual significance,” says Joan Robinson-Blumit, board of director of the Valley of the Sun Pagan Projects. “It is a symbol of our own annual renewal, our own time to plant ‘seeds’ for our own growth.”

Following are a number of symbols used to celebrate Easter today that echo pre-Christian rituals:

Easter—“The word ‘Easter’ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon goddess, Eostre, the goddess of spring, the greening earth, and fertility,” says Robinson-Blumit. She adds that the festival of the goddess Eostre was celebrated on the vernal (spring) equinox, the point in the year when daylight hours are equal to nighttime hours. Rabbits are sacred to the goddess Eostre.

Rabbit— Dr. Janie Gustafson, an adjunct English professor at PVCC who has a doctorate in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, explains that the story of Eostre involves a bird who wished to be a rabbit.

Eostre turns the bird into a rabbit, which is why the rabbit (a symbol of fertility) could still lay eggs (a symbol of new life). Gustafson notes that this goddess had counterparts throughout the ancient world being known as Ishtar to the Assyrians, Astarte to the Egyptians and Greeks, Esther to the Persians, and Ostara to the Teutonic tribes in Germany.

Rabbits represent fertility and new life during the spring season. “Traditionally the penance during Lent included sexual abstinence,” says Gustafson, “so Easter meant that sexual relations could resume, symbolized by the rabbit.”

Easter Eggs—The egg is a universal symbol used since the beginning of time to symbolize the emblem of life. In pre-Christian times, “The egg is a perfect symbol of the goddess and god; the golden yolk represents the sun-god whereas the white (life-sustaining milk) represents the goddess,” says Robinson-Blumit. “Sometimes a wish is placed inside a plastic egg and placed on the altar.”

In Christian times, Gustafson explains that during Lent, Christians were not supposed to eat eggs. Because the chickens continued to lay eggs, an accumulation of eggs took place. People began to hard-boil the eggs to preserve them. “They painted them red symbolizing the blood of Christ,” says Gustafson. Both cultures would crack them open and eat them ritually symbolizing re-birth and new life. The ancient Greeks, Chinese and Persians all gave eggs as gifts during their festivals at this time of year.

Chocolate—According to the National Confectioners Association, the history of chocolate begins with the Mayan Indians who regarded the cocoa beans as “food of the gods.” They were the first to create a drink from crushed cocoa beans, which they shared at sacred ceremonies. The Aztecs called the drink they made “chocolatl,” which means “warm liquid.”

Christopher Columbus brought the beans back to Spain from the Caribbean islands in 1502. However, it wasn’t until 1519 when the Spanish explorer, Hernando Cortes, discovered the commercial possibility of chocolate while exploring Aztec country when he added cane sugar to make it taste better.

This sweeter version became popular with the wealthy in Spain. In 1580, Spanish monks were assigned the task of processing the cocoa beans and thus began the first cocoa processing plant. The flavors continued to be enhanced and soon spread throughout Europe. In 1765, the first chocolate factory was established in the United States. In 1847, an English company made the first solid chocolate made by combining melted cocoa butter, sugar and cocoa powder and finally in 1876, in Switzerland, milk was added creating the milk chocolate enjoyed today.

It was in the early 1800’s that the first chocolate Easter eggs appeared in Germany and France. They were made of dark chocolate and filled with sweets, a treat that spread through Europe and beyond. By the 1960s, the chocolate egg had become a favorite Easter confection. The National Confectioners Association says in a recent survey, 82 percent of Americans would prefer a chocolate or candy bunny instead of a live one as an Easter gift. The four main reasons are:

• Candy or chocolate is always the best present (20 percent);

• Candy or chocolate bunnies are always sweet in nature (13 percent);

• Chocolate or candy bunnies can not bite back when you nibble on their ears (8 percent);

• Chocolate or candy bunnies can not run away or escape (6 percent).

“With Americans preferring edible bunnies to the real deal, along with the fact that over 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies will be made this holiday, confectionary treats are the perfect no muss, no fuss gift to share on Easter morning,” says Larry Graham, president of NCA.

Easter Basket—Throughout history children used to build little nests in gardens so the Easter bunny could fill them up with colored eggs on Easter morning. In the 1700s the tradition of an Easter basket was brought to America by German families. In place of baskets, children set out their caps or bonnets with straw inside and would be delighted in the morning to find it filled with colored eggs. Later they would be filled with candy and treats with the addition of chocolates in the 1800s.

Easter Bonnet—It was traditional in earlier times for people to dress up for church. Hats were worn every Sunday to church but on Easter Sunday, the dress and hats would be especially joyous and festive. Hats were decorated with fresh spring flowers or flowers made from paper, colorful ribbons, feathers and even sea shells. After the Civil War, mothers and daughters who had dressed in dark colors for mourning would begin to dress in colorful spring attire at Easter.

Sunrise Service—Both Catholic and Protestant churches traditionally hold early morning services on Easter to honor the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Pre-Christianity, this celebration praised the return of the sunlight after the darkness of winter.

“We recognize now that the Sun God starts his ascent to power,” says Robinson-Blumit. “Spring’s re-birth and life are begun anew; the Maiden Goddess welcomes the Lord of the Green.”

This perspective parallels with the Christian understanding that Mary Magdalene met the Lord at the rising of the sun. “Mary Magdalene and other women entered the tomb of Jesus at Sunrise on Easter morning and found it empty,” says Forbes, further adding that these pious women then learned of Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

The Cross—According to Forbes, the Celtic Cross, a cross with a circle behind the intersection of its lines, is a symbol from Ireland.

“It was an old pagan symbol that was Christianized as were most pagan symbols and holy days,” says Forbes. It is a popular myth that St. Patrick Christianized the first Celtic Cross by combining the cross with the symbol of the sun to link the life-giving properties of the sun with the cross for pagan followers.

“The early Christian church used the symbol of the circle as representing God’s Eternal Divineness,” says Forbes. “God has no beginning and no end; He just is. The Cross also represents how God sacrificed His eternal love for us on the Cross.”

The cross has become the universal symbol of Christianity signifying the crucifixion of Jesus.

Easter Candle—These are lit in some churches on the eve of Easter Sunday. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, lighting a new fire at this time is a pagan custom signifying the victory of spring over winter. The Church adopted the observances into Easter ceremonies referring it to the fiery column in the desert and to the Resurrection of Christ, the Light of the World.

“Religion is a basic need within all humans,” says Gustafson, “Even for people today who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus or his resurrection, I think Easter can be a profoundly joyous and meaningful day. It celebrates nature’s ability to blossom forth despite the long winter. It reminds us that the darkest of days and times is not the end of the story. Just as spring comes each year and the days grow brighter, so there is always a reason for us to have hope.”