The Spring Equinox: Celebrating the Greening of the Earth

by Ellen Jackson (Editor), Jan Davey Ellis (Illustrator)

Describes some of the ways in which people have celebrated the coming of spring, including the Mayas, the ancient Romans, and the Cree, as well as such holidays as Passover, No Ruz, Holi, and Easter, and suggest related activities.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Holiday, Picture Books, Paganism

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book reasonably well. It was a nice way to honor the spring equinox. My daughter LOVED the Ostara myth at the end, which was the most "Pagan" part of it.

My main complaint was when the author described ancient peoples in a condescending way, along the lines of "Of course today we know the days will get longer every year, but ancient people didn't know whether winter would end, so they had to have a festival and try to do magic to make the days get longer again." Um, yeah. They were ancient, not stupid.

Also, I always feel a little ambivalent about conflating a whole bunch of holidays from different cultural contexts with each other.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet, easy to understand, and covers a variety of earth-based as well as monotheistic points of view surrounding spring. :) I loved this precious book and the tale of Ostara in the back. It also includes fun activities!

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brightly illustrated picture book provides the mythology and cultural practices to several different Spring equinox celebrations throughout history.

[Shay Vande · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent education on spring celebrations around the world in multiple cultures.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations were nice and the text included a lot of holidays from around the world.

I preferA New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinoxsince I felt it had a little more detail. This had the info about the tug-of-war in Ludlow, Shropshire, England.

[Emelda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot more than her others- maybe I'm just ready for winter to be OVER. :) I do like these books, and I'd definitely buy them if I had kids.