The Pagan Roots of Easter: Spring, Symbols, and the Old Stories Beneath the Feast

Easter is one of the brightest days in the Western year—full of eggs, flowers, dawn light, and the promise of new life. Long before churches rang with Alleluia, however, European communities were already greeting spring with rites of renewal. This gentle primer explores the pagan strands often associated with Easter—where they come from, what we know (and don’t), and why these images still feel so right when the world turns green again.

The Name “Easter” and the Dawn Goddess (Maybe)

Across most languages, the Christian festival is called Pascha, from Passover. English and German are different: Easter/Ostern. The medieval writer Bede mentions an Anglo-Saxon month, Ēosturmōnaþ, named for a figure Ēostrelinked to the east and dawn. Was she widely worshipped? Scholars disagree. Some see Ēostre as a genuine dawn goddess; others think Bede preserved a local memory or even a tidy etymological guess.

Either way, the dawn-and-spring mood carried by the name is unmistakable: lengthening days, early flowers, birdsong and first lambs.

Spring Symbols with Older Footprints

While customs varied by place and century, several themes recur across pre-Christian Europe. Think of them as human answers to winter’s end.

Eggs — small shells, big meaning

Eggs are ancient symbols of fertility and new beginnings. Decorating eggs predates Christian practice and appears in many cultures. In the spring, when hens naturally lay more, eggs were a ready emblem of life returning.

Hares and rabbits — quickness and fecundity

The hare, a creature of open fields and astonishing speed, became a potent sign of spring vitality in parts of Europe. Later folklore turned this into the egg-bringing “Easter bunny”, especially in German-speaking lands, and the motif travelled widely.

Fire — calling back the light

Communities across Europe lit bonfires to honour the sun’s strength and bless the fields. Spring fire customs persisted into Christian times as village “Easter fires” in regions of Germany and the Low Countries—likely a layering of older seasonal rites with newer meanings.

Water — blessing and refreshment

Springs and wells were visited for health and luck, with offerings or simple washings to “take the year’s blessing.” Echoes remain in well-dressing traditions and playful water-splash customs around Easter week in parts of Europe.

Greenery, flowers, and budding branches

From primroses and willow to baskets of green, nature’s first colours were carried into homes and gatherings to welcome growth, protect, and cheer.

Note on caution: Some popular claims—like specific “goddess buns” becoming hot cross buns—are charming but contested. It’s safer to say that springtime breads, cakes and fairs are very old, and later Christian practice adapted and reframed many of them.

Spring Festivals Across the Old World

Pre-Christian Europe held a patchwork of spring observances:

• Germanic regions: month-names, field blessings, and fires at the turning of seasons.

• Celtic worlds: the spring equinox itself is less emphasised than later Beltane (May), yet households still marked the shift to growth with cleaning, craft, and visiting holy wells.

• Mediterranean: rites for Cybele and Attis, and Roman Hilaria, also celebrated renewal and return—different myths, familiar themes.

The point isn’t a single “original Easter”, but a family resemblance: after scarcity and cold, communities gathered to welcome warmth, light, and food.

How the Threads Intertwined

When Christianity spread through Europe, it met people who already kept spring. Rather than wiping the slate clean, the new faith often reinterpreted local customs:

• Eggs became a picture of life from the tomb, and were practical too—Lenten egg-fasting created a surplus to decorate and share.

• Fires and candles were blessed; dawn services echoed the women at the empty tomb “very early in the morning.”

• Processions, songs, and market days carried on with fresh words and meanings.

What we call “Easter” in English is thus layered: a Jewish calendar (Passover) shaping a Christian feast (Resurrection) wrapped in Europe’s older spring language (eggs, hares, fire, water).

Celebrating and Interpreting Easter in the Southern Hemisphere

Because the astronomical calculation fixes the date globally, Easter arrives in autumn south of the equator. That can make “spring” imagery feel the wrong way round. You have a few kind, practical options—choose one and keep it for a year so the rhythm can settle.

1) Keep the global date; adapt the symbols

Stay with Easter’s universal timing (March–April) and let autumn set the mood.

• Eggs: still lovely as signs of life and hope—dye with local plants (tea, eucalyptus leaves, onion skins).

• Light: dusk candlelight suits cooler evenings; use lantern walks rather than sunrise if that’s gentler for families.

• Nature: bring in seasonal foliage—seed pods, autumn leaves, native blooms—rather than spring blossoms.

• Table: lean into harvest breads, roasted vegetables and shared soups.

2) Celebrate a separate spring rite in September

If you follow nature-based or pagan pathways, you might keep a spring festival around the September equinox for eggs, hares, flowers and water rites—keeping those symbols with the season.

Many communities happily do both:

Pascha/Easter in March–April

Ostara/Spring in September

3) Name both layers

It helps to say it out loud:

“We’re keeping Easter by the global date, and we’ll greet spring with eggs and flowers in September.”Clear naming lets households, schools and groups enjoy the theology/timing of Easter and the phenology(what the land is doing) of local spring.

Practical notes for Australia and neighbours

• Fire safety: autumn can still carry high fire risk in parts of Australia. Swap bonfires for a single candle, LED lanterns, or a contained fire where legal.

• Water gratitude: the ocean, a river or a local spring makes a beautiful setting—offer thanks and leave no trace.

• Cultural respect: acknowledge Country and avoid borrowing First Nations ceremony without permission. Support Indigenous-led events and conservation where you can.

Marking the Season Today (Pagan-Friendly Ideas)

• Dawn (or dusk) moment: greet the light with tea, candle, or quiet prayer.

• Egg art: natural dyes; gift with small blessings for the year.

• Fire safely: a single candle or permitted outdoor flame to honour returning light.

• Water thanks: visit a spring, river, or the sea; offer gratitude and keep it tidy.

• Share food: bake, break bread, and invite someone who needs company.

The pagan roots of Easter are less a single source than a garden of spring customs—eggs, hares, fires, waters and green shoots—tended by many peoples over many centuries. Christian Europe adopted and re-told these signs, and the blend has endured because it speaks to something perennial: light after darkness, life after winter, and the joy of returning together. In the Southern Hemisphere, you can keep Easter’s global date and let autumn hold it, celebrate spring in September, or do both. What matters most is a rhythm that honours the land beneath your feet and the story that warms your heart.