The dictionary defines Easter as “a feast that commemorates Christ’s resurrection and is observed with variation of date due to different calendars on the first Sunday following the full moon on or following the spring equinox (March 21).”
Churches with a European background, frequently referred to as Western churches, have used this method of calculating the date of Easter since the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. This year, Easter falls on April 15. Next year it will be March 31; the year following, April 20. Easter can fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25.
Easter is the most widely celebrated Christian observance in the world. It even surpasses Christmas. Easter is Resurrection Sunday. It is the day God raised Jesus from the grave. It is the day Jesus became the “first fruit,” the Victor over sin and death. All who believe in Him as Lord and Savior also will be raised to newness of life, just as He was.
That Easter is synonymous with Christianity is a testimony to the transforming nature of the Christian faith and the historical impact of the church. Neither the name Easter nor the time it is observed nor many of the festivities associated with the observance are original to Christianity.
Scholars trace the name Easter back to a Teutonic goddess of mythology named “Ostern” or “Eastre.” This goddess signified the coming of spring and renewed fertility. Festivals in her honor were celebrated on the day of the vernal (spring) equinox or March 21.
Traditions associated with the festivals include the “eastre” rabbit and colored eggs. The rabbit was a symbol of fertility. The eggs, originally painted with bright colors, represented the increasing sunlight of spring.
The eighth-century English scholar St. Bede described early transformations of the pagan festival into a Christian observance. Instead of tieing Resurrection Sunday to the Jewish Passover, as many Eastern Christians still do, the Western church connected the day to the spring equinox. The pagan observance was transformed from an emphasis on the rebirth of nature to the rebirth of man through the resurrection.
The eggs took on different meanings. In some cultures, they were cooked and given as gifts to children and servants. Sometimes the colored eggs were hidden and the children searched for them. This became the forerunner of today’s Easter egg hunt.
The colors took on symbolic meanings. In Greece, crimson-colored eggs are exchanged to honor the blood of Christ. In Austria and parts of Germany green eggs are used on Maundy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper. Many Slavic groups decorate eggs in special patterns of gold and silver to signify the lordship of Christ.
A Polish folktale tries to link the practice of giving eggs back to an experience at the crucifixion. According to the story, Mary, the mother of Jesus, tried to give the soldiers at the cross eggs as she pleaded with them to be merciful to Jesus. Her tears fell on the eggs and spattered, mottling the eggs with a myriad of colors.
Bunnies, chicks and other baby creatures are all associated with new life in the spring of the year. The church redirected the emphasis on nature to the new life available through faith in Jesus Christ.
Even the more recent practice of an Easter bonnet and new clothes, dating from the late 1800s, took on symbolic meaning. The new clothes were supposed to mark the end of the dreary winter and the beginning of a new fresh season of the year. The church attempted to remind people that Easter was a time to make or renew a commitment to the Risen Lord. After all, Easter was the holiest day in the Christian calendar.
When one does not know the history and symbolism of some of the practices now associated with Easter, it could be tempting to rail against them. But, when one sees how the transforming power of the Christian message has worked in history, it is easy to recognize new possibilities today.
It is still possible to use cultural symbols of Easter to point modern-day pagans to the empty tomb of Jesus, the Risen Lord. After all, that is the real symbol of Easter.
Share with others: