Spring is a transitional period, seen as a time of awakening, renewal and rebirth in many cultures around the world. It is often seen as a time of planning and action -- to set the stage for future harvests, physical and spiritual.

Spring festivals include Alban Eilir, Passover, Easter, Ostara, Rites of Spring, Holikadehan, Buddha's birthday, and April Fools Day. The following is a compilation of how spring is celebrated… you’ll be amazed at the many similarities.

Imbolic, Alban Eilir and Beltane

In Druidry, spring is considered so important, that three festivals are dedicated to this season: Imbolic, marking the first stirrings of Spring, Alban Eilir marking its more obvious beginning, and Beltane marking the time of its fullness, before it develops into the very different quality of Summer.

Imbolic is the time of the first appearance of the snowdrop, and of the melting of the snows and the clearing of the debris of Winter. In the Druidry tradition it is a gentle, beautiful festival in which the Mother Goddess is honoured with eight candles rising out of the water at the center of the ceremonial circle.

Alban Eilir, the Spring Equinox, marks the more recognizable beginnings of Spring, when the flowers are beginning to appear and when the sowing begins in earnest. It is the time of equality of day and night, when the forces of light are on the increase. The symbolic plant of the Equinox in Druidry is the trefoil or shamrock.

Beltane (Beltaine, Belltaine, Bealtaine, Beltain, Beltine, Bealteine, Bealtuinn, Boaldyn), meaning 'bright fire' or 'lucky fire' is held on May 1st (May 15th in Scotland) and celebrates the start of summer, the crop and pasturing season.

Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara, occurs in the middle of March. It marks the beginning of Spring and the time when days and nights are of equal length. The Goddess manifests as Ostara or Eostre with her basket of eggs. She is accompanied by the Hare or Rabbit, a manifestation of the God.

Celebrants prepare egg dishes and share them with friends. They organize egg games, such as egg hunts and decorate their homes with spring flowers and sprouting greens.

Wearing green clothing serves as an affirmation of new growth, both personally and in Nature.

Hard-boiled eggs can be transformed into charms. Eggs decorated with symbolic representations of desired attributed are energized and eaten.

Easter

Christians celebrate the supernatural life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. The word ‘Easter’ is said to be from Ostara. The egg and the rabbit, two of Easter's most common symbols, also have ancient associations with spring.

In Medieval Europe, eggs were forbidden during Lent. Therefore, they were a prized Easter gift for children and servants.

In Greece there is an exchange of red eggs to honour the blood of Christ.

In Germany and Austria they exchange green eggs on Holy Thursday.

Slavic people give eggs decorated with gold and silver eggs to each other.

Shells of Easter eggs were often thrown into the rivers and streams because that is supposed to make the geese and ducks fruitful.

The Easter bunny itself is a symbol of fertility. Hares and rabbits are the most fertile animals and are symbols of new life.

Lilies were a symbol of purity for early Christians and remain a preferred Easter floral decoration today.

In Sweden, witches were thought to fly their broomsticks to church bell towers on Easter Eve. Especially in western Sweden, children often dress up as hags and visit neighbors, often with an Easter card, hoping for a coin or a piece of candy in return.

Passover

Passover, or Pesach, possibly a spring festival originally, is used to relate the escape from slavery in Egypt of the Israelites as told in the Bible in the book of Exodus.

To complete preparations for Passover, Jews are required to do a thorough spring cleaning, going through the house with a fine-toothed-comb to make sure the house is free of leaven. The last cleaning step is conducted with a feather to collect the finest crumbs from the remotest corners.

Passover celebrations include a ritualistic meal called a seder, in which symbolic foods are eaten. A seder plate includes fresh greens (to commemorate spring); a hard-boiled egg (to symbolize renewal of hope); saltwater (to symbolize tears of slavery); bitter herbs (to remind of the bitterness of slavery); charoset (a mixture of fruits, nuts and wine that sweeten the bitter herbs); and matzoh (unleavened bread).

Holikadehan

Holikadehan is an exuberant spring festival celebrating the destruction of the demon-king Hiranyakashipu and of the evil Holika by Narasimha, the half-man half-lion incarnation of Visnu. The event is celebrated by throwing water and powder at friends and relatives, and burning wood sugarcane and coconut outside houses. The sweet made for this occassion is Puranpoli (sweet chapatis).

Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti

Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the Buddha, is widely celebrated, on a full moon night in April/May. The Buddha was born on the full-moon day in the month of Vaisakh in 563 BC. He achieved enlightenment as well as nirvana on the same date.

In Sri Lanka Houses are brightly illuminated and even the poorest light at least one oil-lamp at the porch.

Buddhists make Vaisakh Vakats out of bamboo, decorate them with stars and arrange them in their houses. Some people drape the walls of their homes with paper or cloth depicting incidents from the Jataka tales that are based on incarnations of the Buddha prior to his birth as Prince Gautama.

In Japan, replicas of shrines are made out of spring flowers and a small idol of the Buddha placed on them. They bathe and consecrate these idols with great reverence.

April Fool’s Day

Unlike most of the other holidays, the history of April Fool's Day, sometimes called All Fool's Day, is not totally clear. There really wasn't a "first April Fool's Day" that can be pinpointed on the calendar. Some believe it sort of evolved simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of spring.

In Scotland, for example, April Fool's Day is actually celebrated for two days. The second day is devoted to pranks involving the posterior region of the body. It is called Taily Day. The origin of the "kick me" sign can be traced to this observance.

In Portugal, April Fool's is celebrated on the Sunday and Monday before Lent. The traditional trick there is to throw flour at your friends.

In France, an April Fool is called a 'fish' - 'poisson d'Avril' - and it is the custom to send friends a dainty present made up in the form of a small fish.