Spring celebrations of fertility and the origin of life are plentiful in every corner of the globe and throughout history. One Greek legend celebrates the return of Persephone, Goddess of Earth, from the underworld back to the land of the living. To the ancient Greeks, her return symbolized the resurrection of life in the spring after the desolation of winter - very much like the Christian celebration of Easter marks the return of Jesus from the dead, and is celebrated at the beginning of Spring. Many ancient cultures shared similar myths. The Phrygians, for instance, believed that their god went to sleep on the winter solstice, and they performed ceremonies with music and dancing at the spring equinox to awaken him.

The English word “Easter” comes from the name of the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of the Dawn, Eastre (or Eostre, or Ostara). She embodied dawn as a new beginning, and was celebrated in the Spring when the earth itself was waking from a long winter slumber, when plants were unfurling, and animals were waking form hibernation. The fertile nature of rabbits became the primary symbol of new life and the rebirth that occurs during the spring season, and have long been associated with the goddess Eastre and the celebrations that were held in her name.

The Germans had a traditional character named “Oschter Haws,” a rabbit who visited children in the night and left them colorful eggs. Again the egg is a symbol of rebirth, a symbol that Christians later adopted to symbolize the rebirth of Christ specifically.

Another Easter tradition is the eating of Hot Cross Buns. These cakes were marked by the Saxons to honor Eastre, their fertility goddess. The crosses on the buns are said to represent the moon's quarters and the four seasons, while Christians adopted the cross symbol as a reference to the crucifixion.

In Christian mythology, Easter is the annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christians observance of Easter is the culmination of the 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. Easter itself is traditionally a very festive celebration of rebirth and bounty – not at all unlike previous spring festivals around the world, which celebrated the end of a long dark winter of deprivation.

The Christian festival of Easter borrowed from a number of converging traditions. It is generally accepted that Easter is related to the Jewish festival of Passover. The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.