With the coming of spring to the northern hemisphere, many people in the western Judeo-Christian culture look forward to the celebration of Easter. However, many cultures have time-honored celebrations and traditions that welcome the lengthening days and the hope of approaching fertility and warmth that spring represents. As interfaith ministers ordained online in the Universal Life Church, we can examine these customs and find parallels. Both ancient and modern cultures have holidays and rituals that celebrate the ending of winter and the seasonal shift towards new life.
Imbolc
Imbolc is the traditional Celtic name for the holiday also known as Candlemas or Saint Brigid’s day. Imbolc is one of the four Celtic or druidic seasonal festivals and is the springtime counterpart to Samhain. Originally observed by druidic cultures, this holiday was once the festival of sheep’s milk, welcoming the very first lambs of the year and the ewe’s first milk. In pagan culture, this festival commemorates the transition of the goddess from her winter crone aspect back into the life-giving maiden aspect, full of promise and potential. Traditional celebrations include putting out home hearth fires and lighting a new fire to represent sweeping out the old and bringing in the new, lighting candles in the home to represent the rebirth of the sun, and placing gifts of cheese and milk in newly ploughed fields as a present to nature spirits.
Vasant Panchami
Celebrated in India and Hindu culture, Vasant Panchami is a festival of spring, and a holiday dedicated to the goddess Sarasvati. Sarasvati is the goddess of wisdom, and represents learning in all its forms including study in the arts and crafts as well as in science and medicine. In India it is a public holiday, and schools and government offices are closed in observance. The color yellow is very important to this festival, as it represent the vibrancy and new life of springtime, as well as the mustard flowers that blossom in the fields during this time of year. People dress in yellow, decorate with yellow and offer yellow flowers to the gods and goddesses, as well as baking special pastries infused with the bright yellow of saffron strands.
Triodion
The Lenten Triodion is the book that contains the services and prayers that help those in eastern orthodox faiths celebrate and prepare during the three weeks before Great Lent, Holy Week and Easter in which followers commemorate the suffering of Christ. The services included in the Triodion cover the four Sunday services leading up to Clean Monday, when Great Lent begins. These services help followers prepare their mind by giving them inspiration and insight from the texts of the Bible and what they can learn from the lessons there.
