| Easter is a convergence of three traditions. Pagan, Hebrew and Christian. Although the observance of Easter was at a very early period in the practice of the Christian church, a serious difference as to the day for its observance soon arose between the Christians of Jewish, and those of Gentile descent, which led to a long and bitter controversy. |
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Pagan OriginsThe Pagan origins of the holiday according to a Venerable Bede, English historian of the early 8th century, the name Easter, like the name of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology. According to Bede it is derived from the No rse Ostara or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated. The Greek myth, Demeter and Persephone, with its Latin counterpart, Ceres and Per sephone, conveys the idea of a goddess returning seasonally from the nether regions to the light of day. This is in conjunction with the festival of spring, or vernal equinox, March 21, when nature is in resurrection after winter.
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The origin of the rabbit icon, or Easter Bunny, comes from the fact that rabbits are notable for their capacity of abundant production of young especially at this time of year. The use of Easter eggs, has its roots in the characteristic of eggs laid in great numbers in the spring being colored like rays of the returning sun and the northern lights or aurora borealis. There is also a long tradition of decorating Easter eggs and giving them at Easter. See The History of Easter Eggs for more information about this tradition.
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Hebrew OriginsThe month (April), Bede says, was the same as the mensis paschalis, 'when the old festival was observed with the gladness of a new solemnity' The root pasch, from which so many other names for Easter are derived, is from the Hebr ew pesach (Passover) from the verb form 'he passed over.' In Exodus XII we read of the night in Egypt when the angel of death 'passed over' the dwellings of the Israelites, so sparing their first-born. Hence, the Passover or Jewish Pesac h, celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew year.
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Christian OriginsIt was at the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem that Jesus, a Jew, was crucified and rose from the dead. A name for Easter, therefore, is Pasch, in various spellings, and churches throughout the East and West celebrate Easter as a major feast ranking wi th Christmas, witness the 'hot cross bun' or boon distributed among the faithful.
There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival 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 Jewis h festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it of Christ as the true Paschal Lamb and the first fruits from the dead (vernal equinox winter to spring theme), continued to be observed, and became the Christian Easter. |
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