Easter 2020

Easter is such a special time of the year with all the signs of nature waking out of winter’s slumbers.

With our recent limitations we can start to understand how ancient man and woman peered out from their caves and wanted to celebrate the new signs of nature’s awaking. So began the festival to honour Eastre the Teutonic goddess of dawn.

Unlike other celebrations Easter needs to involve a Friday and the following Sunday and if we are honest few probably know how it all works out.

Whilst ancients started to sense something was occurring when first came the smells and then as they ventured further out of the cave, the sunlight reflecting on the colours of spring. Later when there was a calendar it was decided that Easter could not be before 22 March – too cold, and not later than 25 April when caves got really stuffy.

Easter Sunday often sees the largest number of celebrants in churches than any day of the year and this year there will a break in traditions going back hundreds of years. But before long churches will open like the buds on the trees to continue their age old celebrations.

Easter Eggs are a sign of life in waiting. On Easter Sunday as the sun rises it has been a tradition to roll them along Fleet Street in the City of London and as far as we know, still on the White House lawn in Washington.

Easter in nature will continue as always. The Primrose was originally called the Easter Rose and used to decorate homes, churches and wells. But they should not be dismissed as ‘just pretty little flowers’. An oil found in primroses can help cure breast cancer.

That’s the message The Conservation Foundation has been spreading with Gardening Against the Odds to show how even the simplest of gardening can result in benefitting our mental and physical health and the environment. This year we are making the project virtual by creating a network of information, advice, news and advice to encourage and help not just those with gardens, but anyone who has space indoors or out where something can grow and bring hope.

Happy Easter!