Let me clue you in on a few witch's secrets. First off, we don't eat children. Surprising, I know. Second off, we won't burn at the touch of holy water. We are not inherently satanic. Some of us are, but not all. Third, because most things come in threes, a lot of Christian holidays have a pagan flair to them.
Now let me start off with the definition of Pagan since not everybody knows it. It's an umbrella term used to describe an old folk, nature-based religion. There's a bunch of different pagan paths such as Hellenism, Kemetism, Celtic, eclectic, etc. Another popular religion often associated alongside paganism in the new age is Wicca. It's a fairly new religion established in 1954. Now one common but not necessarily universal pagan holidays celebrated is the Wheel of the Year. It's a set of holidays adopted by Wiccans and Pagans alike established by several different cultures.
Despite the diversity found amongst pagans, many celebrate the wheel of the year. The Wheel is marked by 8 holidays, 4 are sabbaths marked by the sun's cycle and the other 4 are seasonal and agricultural changes.
The one that correlates with Easter? Ostara.
Ostara is the spring equinox, celebrated on the first day of spring. It's a time of fertility and rebirth. It's coming alive with spring and getting into the motion of life after enduring a period of rest and death in Winter.
The whole rebirth thing sounds an awful lot like Jesus rising from the dead in Christianity. There is a heavy correlation between the two different holidays and their emphasis on rebirth.
Rabbits are heavily associated with Ostara because they're notorious in both pagan traditions and common knowledge as being extremely proficient at reproducing. They produce a lot of children, which is what spring is known for, flowers blooming and animals raising children.
Eggs are another heavy association. It follows alongside a similar line of thinking as everything else does, on the whole fertility and rebirth note. What's one thing pagans do to celebrate Ostara? I bet you can guess it...yep! We decorate eggs. Decorating eggs is a popular celebration among pagans. It's clearly popular amongst Christians and secular people alike as well.
Now the overlap between the Pagan religions and Christianity is pretty big once you get into the meat of it. Easter and Ostara have a lot of similarities in their associations of eggs and bunnies; they also have a lot in common sharing the rebirth value.
This article isn't meant to say one is better over the other or that Christians are stealing Pagan traditions. Culture is fluid and religions are bond to mix and mingle. I wrote this so everyone can see that despite our different religions we have more in common than we initially realize. We all bleed red and we all are human.
