Origin of Easter

The origin of Easter

There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers. Indeed, the observance of any special holidays throughout the Christian year is an innovation postdating the early church. The ecclesiastical historian Socrates attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old [i.e. pagan] usage, 'just as many other customs have been established,' stating that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. (Many commentators, however, have interpreted the last supper as a passover seder at which Jesus presided, indicating that he was not on the other hand opposed to the observance of annual holidays!)

Just as the most commonly accepted etymology for the word "easter" derives it from the Germanic goddes Eostre, many have traced the holiday's origins to that goddess' festival. According to the Venerable Bede, an English historian of the early 8th century, Easter is derived from the Norse Ostara or Eostre, a festival of spring at the vernal equinox, March 21, when nature is in resurrection after winter. Hence, the rabbits, notable for their fecundity, and the eggs, colored like rays of the returning sun and the northern lights or aurora borealis. Children roll easter eggs in England. Everywhere they hunt the many-colored Easter eggs, brought by the Easter rabbit. Hidden in the play are, it has been argued, the vestiges of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility. (A rabbit, furthermore, was sometimes considered the escort of the goddess.)

Another etymology attempts to derive "Easter" from the Sumerian goddess Ishtar; its propenents also argue that aspects of an ancient festival accompanied the name, claiming that the worship of Bel and Astarte was anciently introduced into Britain, and that the hot cross buns of Good Friday and dyed eggs of Easter Sunday figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now.

However, most languages (as explained elsewhere in this article) derive their name from the holiday from "pesach," the proper Hebrew name of Passover; and although some pagan customs and words undoubtedly have become linked to the holiday, most continue to see its main origins in that Jewish observance.