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To Christians around the world, the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox is Easter Sunday, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. But for thousands of years before the Christian era, the Vernal Equinox signaled the beginning of the season of rebirth, the resurrection of nature and of many an ancient pagan god.

One of the oldest resurrection stories is of Isis and Osiris of Egypt. They were goddess and god who ruled an ancient land in peace, until Set, brother of Osiris, murdered him out of jealousy. Set cut up Osiris's body and scattered it throughout the world. Isis in grief collected all the pieces. Then, with the help of Anubis, Lord of the underworld, brought Osiris back to life. Then Isis and Osiris begat, Horus, the Sun god.

In another story, Greek in Origin, is the story of Aphrodite, the daughter of Zeus and Dione. She fell in love with the beautiful youth Adonis, and hid him in a box so that no one else could see him. She gave the box to Persephone, the queen of the underworld to hide. Persephone opened the box and fell in love with Adonis. She refused to return him to Aphrodite. Aphrodite was devastated. She was the goddess of love and fertility, but while she was in this state of mourning, all the land became barren. Zeus declared that Adonis would spend a third of the year with each goddess and a third of the year alone. In the Spring he is with Aphrodite, and the winter with Persephone.

In the north of Europe another tale of a god resurrected was told. This is the story of Balder the Sun god, son of Odin and Frig. Balder was kind, handsome and well loved by everyone. When young, he had a premonitory dream that he would be killed, so his mother made every creature in nature promise not to harm him. Every creature but the mistletoe made the agreement. Because of this agreement, he seemed invincible and was the sport of other gods to throw their weapons at. One day Loki, the mischief maker who was jealous, disguised himself as an old crone and found out the secret of the mistletoe from Frig. Loki took a piece of mistletoe and tricked Hoder, the blind god of winter, to throw it at Balder. Balder died and his body was given a lavish boat funeral, while his spirit went to the ancient Norse underworld, Hel. Odin sent a messenger to Hel to ask how Balder could be brought back. The messenger was told that every god wept for him. All did except Loki. Balder was fated to stay in the underworld until Ragnarok, Judgment Day, the end of the world.

In the Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe, it was also believed that there was a monster that would devour the world, and that it is bound in magical chains. The monster is representative of death and decay. It is also believed that the chains that bind the monster are strengthened in direct proportion to the amount of famous Ukraine Easter eggs (Pysanky) made each year.

Modern Pagans also celebrate the universal principle of Resurrection at the Equinox - which is named for Eostre, a Pagan goddess. She is the goddess of Spring to whom the offerings of cake and colored eggs were made at the Vernal Equinox. Rabbits, especially white ones were sacred to her, and she was believed to take the form of a rabbit. She is also said to be the goddess of the East, that being the direction of rebirth. Since the sun rises in the East, she is linked with the sunrise. Traditional Easter services stem from this association.

Among the earliest examples of association between eggs and graves were that of decorated ostrich eggs found in Neolithic graves in pre-dynastic Egypt. The eggs were hollow so they were not placed there as food for the dead. The Druids dyed eggs scarlet in honor of the sun. Pysanky are still considered to be magical amulets of fertility, protection and prosperity. Pysanky are not the only magical eggs of the Ukraine, there are also "Krashaka." These eggs are hardboiled, dyed and eaten at sunrise on Easter.

One tradition is to place a single Krashaka on the grave of a loved one. The original meaning of this, is that the egg is a symbol of rebirth and insured the loved one's return to the tribe. If the egg is undisturbed it means the spirit of the loved one is at peace, but if it is disturbed or missing, it means the person is in need of prayer. One of the main purposes of the Krashanky was of healing by transference. A sick person would wear the egg suspended on a string around their neck, and in this way the egg would absorb the evil.

The goddess of fertility, was also the goddess of grain, and so offering bread and cakes, as well as colored eggs, were made to her. Most European countries have a traditional Eostre bread. In Eastern Europe, it is a sweet bread made with white raisins called, "baka." Traditionally it's served with cheese cake garnished with candied violets, called "pashka." In Italy it is called "pan de Pasque," a sweet bread that has colored eggs baked into the braided loaf. (While the name "Easter" is the Germanic languages comes from the name of the goddess Eostre. Easter in Latin languages comes from the Hebrew word for passover-hence, the word "Pasque" for Easter in Italian).

Among the people of Western Europe, it is traditional to eat hot cross buns on Easter morning. These small, sweet buns are usually decorated with equal armed crosses made of white icing. Pagan Greeks made cake offerings with crosses on them to several goddesses. Eos, the goddess of sunrise, was probably among these. Anglo Saxons made offerings of cakes with crosses on them, and they were worn as amulets and hung in the home for protection and prosperity.

Babylonians and Assyrians placed greater importance on the Equinoxes than the solstices. The most important festival in Babylonia was the New Year, which occurred at the Spring equinox. This was the akitu, a twelve-day ceremony in which the King, as the son and representative of the divinity, regenerated and synchronized the rhythms of nature, cosmos, and human society.

The most significant ancient religious structure for the Jewish people (and later Christians as well), was Solomon's temple at Jerusalem, oriented to the Equinox sunrise. Each Spring Equinox, at the time of the ancient agricultural festival of sowing, sunlight was allowed to enter the length of an open passage from the doorway of the temple over the high altar and into the Holy of Holies. It is noted that, "There is evidence...that the entrance of the sunlight on the morning of the Spring Equinox formed part of the ceremonial. The priest being in the Holy Place, the worshippers outside, with their backs to the sun, could see the high priest by the sunlight reflected from the jewels of his garment."

About 3,000 years ago the people who lived in the valley of the Mississippi began the construction of thousands of earthworks ranging from small heaps the size of a gravel to platforms covering many acres. Some were geometrical in shape and others were in the form of animals. The people who made them oriented them astronomically often to the Solstice and Equinox sunrise points. The Native Americans of this area were still using them for ceremonial purposes when Europeans first began colonizing America.

The fact that the holidays name for the goddess Eostre is traditionally celebrated at sunrise services suggests that in ancient times, the Vernal Equinox was a sunrise celebration. In fact, it tells us something about all Equinoxes and Solstices, and that each should be celebrated at a specific time of day. The Vernal Equinox at sunrise, because it is a celebration of new beginnings, the reawakening of nature from its' death- like sleep of winter, and the very moment when tJune 11, 2005this reason also, the rooster whose crow heralds the dawn, was sacred to the sun god Apollo. The Quinces are the two days when the northern and southern hemispheres receive the same amount of sunlight and the days and nights are of the same length. The Quinoxes are times of balance and also times of intense change.

To a person who studies energy, the Vernal Equinox like the other three turning points (seasons) in the year are special times where that quality of energy is something to work with. The Equinoxes and Solistices are the times of the year where you as a farmer of energy can plant, sow and harvest the things you truly want to manifest in your life. During Spring what is occurring is that life is being renewed because the Christ energy is emerging from the ground where it has been replenishing the earth since the winter solstice. By Spring the earth is renewed and you observe the physical evidence of this in the blooming plants and all living things that wake from their winter slumber including human beings! Spring is the cosmos' wake-up call that life again is renewed and you are a part of it.

Thanks to Richard Heinberg-Celebrate the Solstice and Pauline Campanelli - Ancient Ways.