Домашнє читання ''EASTER STORIES''

                                                               EASTER     STORIES  

SPRING GODDESS

There was once a Saxon goddess of the dawn who was worshipped each Spring. She was called Eastre, or Eostre. It is her name which has given us the modern English word, Easter.

One of the old Spring customs was to welcome back the birds which had flown far south to escape the cold of the northern Winters, and to find food and warmth.

Children still watch for the first swallows to return.

CONSOLE!  CONSOLE!

On the day that Jesus died, it is said that a swallow hovered above the cross, slowly beating her wings.

‘’Console! Console ! ‘’the bird cried.

Since then, some people say, it is good luck if a swallow builds a nest under the eaves of a house, a barn or a shed. And they also say that it is bad luck to destroy  a swallow’s nest.