Pagan Influence: Easter Memories

Posted by Jill Stefko Mar 6, 2008

I remember Easter when I was a child. We couldn’t wait to find the baskets the Easter Bunny hid on the holiday morning. They were filled with colored hard boiled eggs and candy in the shapes of chocolate bunnies, eggs, and lambs, jelly beans and marshmallow chicks.

My grandmother would hide Easter eggs in her yard, so we, the grandchildren, had our own egg hunts.

Every year, Dad would give Mother and me corsages to wear at Easter. The house was decorated with tulips, lilacs, daffodils, potted hyacinths and Easter egg trees. Mother colored real egg shells and hung them on small tree branches.

Easter dinner always featured ham, asparagus and devilled eggs. My grandfather made eggnog.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I got curious about the roots of holiday customs and began researching them. Last year, I wrote about Ostara, A Pagan Celebration of Spring,and the Pagan Roots of Easter Customs. My most recent article is Ostara/Easter Celebration.

I discovered holiday customs often have Pagan roots because adopting the Olde Religion’s traditions facilitated the Christian conversion of European Pagans. Some of our Easter customs are based on those of Ostara.

Some Pagan influences…. Eggs and rabbits are symbols of fertility. Spring flowers decorated altars on Ostara. Traditional foods included ham, egg dishes and spring and leafy green vegetables.

I hope you enjoy these articles and the recipes which are old family recipes or those I created.