The History of Easter
Mar 11th, 2009 by Richmond Park Church
Easter is named after Eostre, the Saxon goddess of spring, who was one of many pagan goddesses associated with the worship of nature and fertility at spring-time. Eostre is often depicted with a hare by her side, because hares or rabbits were symbols of enviable prolific procreation. When we think of Easter, often our first thoughts are bunny rabbits and chocolate eggs! For Christians it is, more importantly, the anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus, so central to our faith.
And this is the origin of the Easter Bunny and, oddly, Easter Eggs (no chickens required!) - pagans believed life originally came from an egg, and eggs were another symbol of fertility. The “spirit hare/rabbit” laid its eggs in the grass at spring-time, so it was thought, and people would search for them - the origins of Easter egg hunts.
The Bible and other historical records tell us that Jesus was crucified just before “Passover”, a Jewish festival held in the spring-time. The exact date of Passover moves around as the time of it is dictated by the old Jewish calendar which isn’t the same as the Gregorian calendar the western world now runs by.
About 350 years after the crucifixion of Jesus, church leaders decided to tell people what day Easter should be observed, as people were choosing different days based on different reasoning. For instance, should Easter Day always be on a Sunday, as this was the original day of the resurrection, or could it be on a week day if the changing date of Passover dictated this? These church leaders decided that Easter Sunday will always be on the First Sunday after the full moon that directly follows the Spring Equinox!
Even though in this way Christian Easter became separated from Jewish Passover, the resurrection of Jesus in some meaningful ways mirrored the events of Passover, and really has nothing in common with the earlier pagan spring festivals, except that new life at spring-time is sometimes used as a picture of new life with Jesus. The Passover was established as a reminder to God’s people of how he had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Jesus rescues us from slavery to sin.
The Jewish families were saved that day by marking their homes with lamb’s blood. The Bible says Jesus was the last sacrificial lamb, the last time blood would have to be spilt to pay for our sins. Christians believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins by his death on the cross, and showed he has conquered sin and death by his resurrection. That’s what we celebrate on Easter Sunday!
Later on, in the fourth century AD, the church created some more “holy days” to observe, each of which was to act as a reminder of something from the life of Jesus, eg. the days of Lent.
Richmond Park Church, Read more about the life of Jesus and where Easter traditions came from
