The Ancient Promise of Spring
Turn of seasons and attitudes
Throughout much of the Western hemisphere, Easter weekend is a turning point – for both humankind and nature. A time for growth, rebirth, and renewal. It's a major seasonal event with roots that reach deeply into the past, at least 2000 years before the death and resurrection of Christianity's Jesus Christ. Humans bowed to gods and goddesses like Inanna in ancient Sumeria, who spent her winter in the 'underworld' and rose to life in the Spring.
Eostre, the goddess of crops and humans, has roots in human beliefs as far back as 200 AD and appears in ancient cultural tales throughout Europe. She is a symbol of fertility and new birth – an association that traveled through time in the naming of 'estrogen' – the female fertility drug. According to legend, Eostre gave birth to a daughter with the help of the Sun God, bringing people to associate birth with fertility and eggs. Thus we have colored eggs – like ornate Pysanka eggs that, in pre-Christian Ukraine, honored the Sun God Father.
The concept of rebirth is a cross-cultural and timeless association with Easter that's celebrated the world over under many names. Human groups worshiped the gods and goddesses of nature and gathered at places displaying the promise of the Spring Equinox – think Stonehenge and Mayan monuments. Observing the balance of night and day change is woven through human history as an opportunity for both nature and humankind to renew, produce bounty, sustain all of life.
But today, most of us in Western cultures revere the holiday as a symbol of rebirth. Christians are married to the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, while Jews integrate Christ's life and death into their beliefs in various ways, depending on their interpretation of the gospels.
My understanding of Easter dates back to an early education in a Midwest Catholic school where the ritual, mourning, and celebration of Easter were pretty well carved into stone.Â
Specifically: The obligatory Saturday confession of sins, penance whispered by a shadowy priest behind a translucent screen, and time spent kneeling in the cathedral muttering the assigned Our Fathers and Hail Marys as quickly as possible. Easter Sunday's new clothes, the hats that women were required to wear when entering the church, the solemn appearance of priests in brocade robes, altar boys dressed like penguins in black and white, kneeling for communion and feeling the 'host' slowing dissolving on the tongue.
I also remember leaving the service and promising myself I'd change my behavior and no longer torture my little brother. Not talk back to my mother. Tell no lies. Christ died for our sins but rose from the grave as a sign of redemption. Even then, as a child, the promise of Easter was motivating. I was on board.
We'd return to our small house, and my brother and I would hunt for eggs and hope for hollow chocolate rabbits. My mother and her mother would be busy in a cramped kitchen cooking a Midwest Easter feast and shouting out – "Don't eat any of that candy – you'll spoil your appetite! Leave your brother alone; you'll ruin your nice dress!" By dinner time, I'd have eaten my candy, attacked my brother, and told my mother he'd started the fight – which wasn't true. So, I'd already told a lie. Essentially broken all my Easter resolutions within a few hours.
But as adults, we come to recognize the birth of Spring is a universal event – regardless of hemisphere or religious belief. We are conscious of a radical and hopeful change in the environment. As animals on the planet, we share the rhythms and cycles of our calendar year. In Spring, we leave the cold and darkness behind, watch trees turn from bare to bountiful. All around us, life renews and tells us that there is hope for us as well. Potential. Opportunity. Â
That Spring brings a positive message for the human spirit is not just a cliché. Mother Nature helps us take part in the transformation to the season of change and growth. We gain about three more hours of light that helps us produce serotonin – a feel-good mood stabilizer that allows us to do more with a better attitude. We're surrounded by life sprouting all around us. Green leaves burst from bare branches. Flowers bloom, babies are born. We are warmed by the sun and filled with hope.
The response to all this is not purely emotional. Changes in the psyche are physical - documented in neuroscience and biology. With a little Sees, Reeses, Cadbury, and Peeps thrown in - it's a very sweet holiday.
I'm hoping to harness this seasonal and spiritual journey into the light of Spring. Feel warm sun after a brutal winter, make art, write books, and continue to share my thoughts with you.
Happy Eoster to you and yours – and may we all keep the promise of Spring alive in our thoughts and deeds.
No matter what your beliefs, we can all use the fresh breath of hope for the future. Thanks again for your time - time is one of our greatest treasures. Let me know your thoughts - darby@darbypatterson.com
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