The origin of the Easter festival is a celebration of the fertility of the earth, renewed each springtime. The egg, the chick and the rabbit are fertility symbols much older than the Christian symbol of the resurrected god. The springtime festival has often been marked by sexual exuberance, as is still evident in the pre-Lenten Carnival and Mardi Gras festivals and the phallic symbolism of the May pole.

Back in the he mists of time people associated the spring festival with the coming back to life of the god of fertility (Tammuz, Adonis, Osiris, Perseus, Orpheus), who had been dead in the underworld during the winter. Even the name by which we still celebrate this festival is a corruption of the name of the ancient fertility goddess Ishtar or Ashtoreth (whose name also survives in the name of one of the books of the Old Testament, the only Bible book that contains no reference to God - the Book of Esther).

The egg, the rabbit and the phallic pole continue to be loved and celebrated every springtime when our hearts rise to see the young shoots and blossom appearing and the trees beginning to bud. So revel in your chocolate eggs and celebrate Easter however the fancy takes you!