The lamb

The Easter lamb represents Jesus and relates his death to that of the lamb sacrificed on the first Passover. However, the lamb was often sacrificed as offerings to God by the Hebrews long before the first Passover. Christians traditionally refer to Jesus as "the Lamb of God."

Dogwood

The dogwood is a spring blooming tree. It has been "adopted" by the Christian religion as a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ. The legend says that a dogwood tree was used to make the cross of the crucifixion and as a result it now grows as a living memory of the event.

The crucifixion are said to be symbolised as follows:

• The Cross - respresented by the four "petals" of the dogwood flowers which form a cross.
• The Nails - the "petals" often have marks on the outer edge said to be nail marks.
• The Crown of Thorns - the centre of the flower can sometimes resemble a crown.
• The Blood - the red dogwood berries are said to represent the blood of Christ.

Easter eggs & spring chicks

The "egg" and "spring chicks" was a fertility symbol used by many peoples dating back many thousands of years. The egg as a fertility symbol, was also important too, and as people started to keep domestic fowl, such as chickens, the observation of hen's eggs hatching bringing forth yellow coloured chicks was interpreted into their celebrations as the "sun" being re-born.

Today, an egg is a symbol of the rock tomb out of which Christ emerged when he arose again. The chick, hatching out of the egg, symbolizes new life or re-birth.

Butterfly

The Butterfly is one of the significant symbols of Easter. Its whole life cycle is meant to symbolize the life of Jesus Christ. The first stage, is the caterpillar, which stands for his life on earth. The second phase begins from the cocoon stage, portraying the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. The third and final stage is the butterfly, representing his raising from the dead in a glorified body.

Easter Bonnet

An Easter Bonnet represents the tail-end of a tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter, in harmony with the renewal of the year and the promise of spiritual renewal and redemption. The "Easter bonnet" was fixed in popular culture by Irving Berlin, whose frame of reference was the Easter parade in New York City, a festive walkabout that made its way down Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral.

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Palm branches

Palm branches, represents when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday and people waved palm branches, welcoming him. It was a Roman custom to welcome royalty by waving palm branches. Today, on Palm Sunday, Christians still carry palm branches in parades.

Easter Lilies

In ancient Rome, people thought the goddess Flora made the flowers bloom. In ancient Greek, they believed that the goddess Demeter's daughter was kidnapped while picking the flower. Only allowed to visit her mother during the spring and summer, they believed that Demeter's happiness made the flowers bloom.

Today, the white blossoms symbolize the purity of Jesus. Lilies, emerging from the earth in the spring, also symbolize new life and the resurrection of Christ.

Easter bunny

As the spring festival and it's imagery was passed from one generation to another, fanciful stories were woven around the original. One of which is that the goddess Eastre/Ostara transformed her pet bird into a hare, but the change was incomplete, the hare still laid eggs. The story was further embellished, by adding that these eggs were brightly coloured.

The hare were fertile animals and gave birth to many offsprings in spring. Therefore, the bunny served as a symbol of new life during the Spring season.