In Christian countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. But the celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do with Christianity.
The Christian celebration of Easter embodies a number of converging traditions with emphasis on the relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name used by Europeans for Easter.
Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. On the day of the vernal equinox, the ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of fertility and of springtime, Eastre. Similar Teutonic goddesses of fertility were known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos. The Assyrians and the Babylonians called her Ishtar...in fact, the Assyrian pronunciation of her name sounds just like the English word Easter. For more than a thousand years before Jesus' birth, a festival to this goddess was celebrated each spring to mark the budding of new life, and the resurrection of nature after the dead of winter. It was a feast of regeneration.
When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered these tribes with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. It would have been impossible for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. The missionaries decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.
In the early years of Christianity, Jewish Christians observed the Resurrection and Passover together on the 14th day of Nisan, the Jewish month roughly corresponding with April. However, Gentile Christians celebrated the resurrection on the Sunday closest to Nisan 14. To settle this difference, at the Nicene Council in 325 CE, Emperor Constantine fixed the date of Easter on the first Sunday following the Paschal full moon. This is the first full moon after the vernal equinox, March 21. Western Christians still follow this system today. Christian churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, still observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival.
There is no indication of the observance of Easter in the New Testament or in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians who continued to observe the Jewish festivals. Thus the Passover, with a new concept added to it of Christ as the true Paschal Lamb and the vernal equinox (winter to spring theme) continued to be observed and became the Christian Easter.
Easter Eggs have become popular in this century, but exchanging of eggs in the springtime is an ancient custom. The Greeks and Egyptians placed eggs on their tombs. A ancient Roman proverb states, "All life comes from an egg".
In most cultures, the egg signifies birth and resurrection. So when the church began to celebrate the Resurrection in the second century, the egg was a popular symbol. In those days, wealthy people covered gift eggs in gold leaf, while peasants dyed theirs with flowers and herbs. Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs...those made of chocolate candy.
The Easter Lily is another symbol of the resurrection and a symbol of new life and rebirth.
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of the goddess of fertility Eastre. She was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol...the rabbit.
The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.
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