Easter, the equinox and colored eggs – what do they all have in common? One glorious Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Christ with the traditions of the era.
The date of Easter isn’t a fixed day like other holidays. It fluctuates between March 22 and April 25. This is due to the vernal equinox always being March 20 or 21, and the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the equinox is Easter. Equinox translates to equal night – as many hours of night as day.
This indicates spring for those of us in the northern hemisphere; autumn for those in the southern hemisphere. And the arrival of spring has always been celebrated for its symbol of hope, rebirth, life emerging again from a deep slumber. Even the word ‘Easter’ comes from the ancient word for spring – ‘eastre’ – and is traditionally thought to be taken from the Pagan Goddess of fertility – Eostre or Eastur, or other various spellings.
The ancient Zoroastrians in Iran were the first to present decorated eggs. Eastern Christians connect Mary Magdalene with colored eggs. They believe she brought hard cooked eggs for the women who came to Jesus’ tomb and they miraculously turned red at the rolled away stone.
Plovers – birds who nest on the ground – often take over the nests of hares and thus was the correlation between rabbits and eggs hatched. And the hare has a 28 day cycle – matching that of the lunar cycle.
So there you have it in simple form. The Easter egg and equinox connection, along with the rabbit.
Writingfeemail's Blog 
What a dreamy way of linking myth, nature and a season. Lovely.
Sending you hard boiled Easter greetings and proffering a bunch of bright yellow daffodils,
U
Thanks Ursula! I wish a very Happy Easter for you as well.
Thank you for linking these up for me; I always wondered about the hare/egg connection 🙂
And isn’t that Faberge-styled egg gorgeous?
MJ
I’m glad you got something out of this post. I’ve always liked decorated eggs and the Faberge-style one actually opens up, revealing a bird and playing music like a music box.
Hi,
That is great information, and amazing how it all worked together. 😀
Thanks Mags!
That’s a gorgeous photo. Thanks for linking all the Easter traditions together. I’m sure I’d heard about why Easter falls when it does, but I wasn’t familiar with the connection to eggs and bunnies…. Interesting!
Thanks Dianna. Bunnies and eggs – who knew?
Have to admit you taught me a something today. 🙂 Great post my friend, as usual
Thank you Melynda. I’m glad you enjoyed this.
Great explanation. It’s so good to know and not just be left wondering. Beautiful eggs in the photo.
Thanks Georgette. I have a thing for decorated eggs.
Ditto on how wonderful the illustration is. Enjoyed the explanations how philosophies merged
We have such a hodge-podge of traditions with most of our celebrations. I guess that’s a nice thing actually.
While I was in the middle of reading this, a friend called. Her birthday was this week and she noted that Easter wasn’t usually this close to her birthday, and casually wondered why Easter is on a different date every year. Having just read the sentence, I was able to give her the answer.
I’m so glad you got something from this post. Most of our holidays are solidly attached to a specific date, so I too wondered why Easter moved around. Now we know!
Thank you for eliminating some of my ignorant quotient today! 🙂
DL Hammons @ Cruising Altitude 2.0
Co-Host of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
Thank you for co-hosting this A-Z challenge!
Happy Easter my dear!
To you as well!
I love Easter Eggs! They can be so beautiful! And, I always enjoy learning about the origins of symbols. Thanks for sharing!
Monica, I love decorated eggs too. Happy Easter.
Loved this little info-filled post! Man I miss the days when I could run around the yard looking for Easter Eggs. What do us grown-ups get to do? I guess I would say Church, but I usually attend church even when it’s not Easter! Have a great weekend! Happy Easter!
My puppy took the stones of my fountain and carried them into the grass. I spent hours hunting them back out, not wanting to hit one with the mower. Suddenly I had the insight that it was like hunting eggs that she had hid for me. That’s just one more thing you can look forward to when you are able to get that dog!
It was a informative and really nice post; as you know I have very little idea about these things. I came to know about Halloween and thanks giving after I started visiting your blog. Happy Easter. 🙂
And I thought Cadbury made that up! lol Interesting how you tied them all together.
Cool post. Thanks for this bot of info:
“Plovers – birds who nest on the ground – often take over the nests of hares and thus was the correlation between rabbits and eggs hatched. And the hare has a 28 day cycle – matching that of the lunar cycle. ”
I always wondered about it. 🙂
Happy Easter! 🙂
Didn’t know about some of these connections. Interesting! And thank goodness, the light is coming back! Love the longer days. ~ Sheila