Thankyou for Sreeja for this belated Easter / Spring Message. Sreeja was intending to write a piece on International Womens day. But that has long since gone as has Easter… However Sreeja still has Easter eggs and writes …
Four weeks after Easter I am still finishing eating my chocolate eggs and I am thinking how lucky I am to be in Abingdon. The Local Excellence and Craft Markets inspire you to be creative with gifts for friends and family. There are the array of both independent and larger retail shops. Then the cafes and pubs offer the opportunity of spending time with loved ones. This Easter I was lucky enough to get organic Fairtrade chocolate eggs from the Cooperative, tea leaves from Added Ingredients, and a gift voucher to be used at Utopia on Stert Street.
Whilst eating my chocolate eggs I thought of their continuing significance in many different cultural contexts both in the Pagan and Christian traditions, symbolising new life, fertility and rebirth and the germinating of life that is early spring.
Whatever belief system you follow Spring is an opportunity to start afresh and remind yourself of the transformative power of the human spirit as seen through the actions of local people in Abingdon without whom our communities would not exist or thrive.
Helena and her team of willing volunteers have run the Helen Douglas Charity shop for over 12 years. They always bring a smile to your face when you walk into the shop and the team effort is evident in their beautiful window displays which both attracts customers and gains recognition in the awards at the Extravaganza each year.
A visit to Leona Norhana’s organic hairdressing salon on Bath street leaves you feeling radiant in more ways than one. Her products are derived from ethical and sustainable sources and Leona’s empowering advice and mentoring of women in all walks of life makes you wonder whether she has done a course in life coaching alongside her obvious salon skills.
A short walk away from the centre of town in North Abingdon live an amazing couple who exchange more Easter eggs and presents then any couple I know. Rod and Rosily Hudson have been fostering and adopting children in the Abingdon community for over 40 years now. They are in their 70s and continue to foster children in need of emergency care during the holiday periods. They are so inspiring.
Spring Equinox celebrates the renewed life of the Earth that comes with the Spring. It is a solar festival, celebrated when the length of the day and the night are equal (this happens twice a year, at Spring and Autumn equinox). The turn in the seasons was celebrated by the Celts with various festivities. The festival is known as Ostara by some Pagans, after the Teutonic goddess Eostre or Ostra. The word Easter also derives from this goddess’s name, the Christian celebration of the life of Jesus Christ.Today, Pagans continue to celebrate the coming of Spring. They attribute the changes that are going on in the world to an increase in the powers of their God and Goddess (the personifications of the great force that is at work in the world). At the time of Spring Equinox the God and the Goddess are often portrayed as The Green Man and Mother Earth. The Green Man is said to be born of Mother Earth in the depths of winter and to live through the rest of the year until he dies at Samhain.
To celebrate Spring Equinox some Pagans carry out particular rituals. For instance a woman and a man are chosen to act out the roles of Spring God and Goddess, playing out courtship and symbolically planting seeds. Egg races, egg hunts, egg eating and egg painting are also traditional activities at this time of year. These type of activities were in existence long before they became associated with the Christian Easter.
Easter is a seven week season which begins on Easter Sunday and last until Pentecost. ‘Pentecosta’ is Greek for 50, and the number of days from Easter Sunday until Pentecost (counting both) is 50.
‘Easter’ is the English word. The English Church attached the name of Eostre to their festival (which Janet correctly describes).
Elsewhere in Europe is called “pasch” (the suffering) and is linked to the Jewish festival of Passover. This is why Easter is not a fixed date. Passover is fixed by the lunar calendar, and although Easter Day is always a Sunday it is set by calculation to the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.
That, by the way, is the ten second answer… 🙂
Thanks to Sreeja for this uplifting reminder of how lucky we are to live in lovely, friendly Abingdon.
I agree – it’s nice to celebrate and support the good shops and businesses that we do have in Abingdon, especially the independents.