Easter Traditions and Legends

The interesting history behind Easter traditions begins in A.D. 325 when the Roman emperor, Constantine, established Easter as the Sunday of or after the first full moon of spring. To this day we celebrate Easter between March 22 and April 25 and Easter traditions are a salute to spring marking rebirth.

Since life comes from an egg, the Easter Egg is a symbol of rebirth or springtime. The oldest tradition is to dye or paint chicken eggs. This tradition was sweetened up in the 19th century by confectioners making egg-shaped pastries and marzipan,eventually settling on Chocolate Easter Eggs. According to mythology, the Easter Bunny was a large sacred bird belonging to the pagan goddess of spring, Eostre (for whom Easter is named). It is said, that is a fit of rage the goddess turned the bird into a bunny, but the bunny did not lose all of its bird like qualities as it still made straw nests full of eggs. The Easter Egg Hunt evolved from these legends of looking for painted eggs in straw nests or grass that were laid by the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Lily is a beautiful trumpet-shaped white flower that symbolize of purity, innocence and light, the spiritual essence of Easter. It is said that the beautiful white lilies grew in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus wept in the last hours before he was betrayed by Judas. Another legend claims that the white lilies grew from the repentant tears shed by Eve upon her departure from the Garden of Eden.