Spring Celebration time (a.k.a. Easter)

Today as I sit and contemplate our humble beginnings, Easter is put into a different perspective. For some, Easter is the celebration of Jesus' (zombie like) resurrection. For others Higan ({japan}spirits crossing over to nirvana) as well as Nowruz ( Iranian new year, stems back to Zoroastrianism) are celebrated around the same time. These events are well known in the areas they are celebrated, as Easter is to us.

I mention these holidays because their roots are older than all of these religious traditions. 

Our ancestors living on the plains of Africa 60,000+ years ago also did some egg decorating. Pagan rituals have been passed down through thousands of generations, celebrating the coming of spring and the rebirth of life. We used animal symbols to represent fertility like eggs and rabbits. Humans began to celebrate spring to welcome back food and warmth from the depths of the winter. The rituals also helped us with agriculture, timing when to plant seeds and when to begin hunting and gathering again. Our ancestors began to track these seasonal changes and taught the next generations how to remember by using rituals like these. Eventually we developed dances and story telling about amazing things that took place behind the scenes of nature. These amazing stories about the inner most workings of nature quenched our thirst for answers. 

Now in the twenty first century however we know the answers. We have discovered the true under-workings of nature. We know what spring is and that it arrives every year and why it arrives. We no longer need to assert magic is the cause. Yet... every year these celebrations continue to give thanks and pay homage to stories we created to answer a question we could not properly answer at the time. 

Over and out,

          Steven V.