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The Easter holiday has many customs, a history combining Christian, Pagan, and Hebrew traditions and beliefs, and is celebrated at different times around the world. The rebirth of the world at spring and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated by Pagans and Christians and Jewish Passover commemorates Israel's deliverance by Moses from in Egypt; it was during this Passover in 30 AD that Christ was crucified. |
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Who is Easter? Eostre was the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, the east, fertility, and rebirth, and she is still celebrated by pagans today. Sometimes, Eostre is called Ostara, Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Estre, Eostre, Eoster, Eostra, Eastre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron, Aurora, or Ausos. Her name honors the sun rising in the east, and the month of April was dedicated to her. One of the biggest festivals of the Saxons of second century Europe was the spring equinox celebration in honor of Eostre. Eostre's sacred animal was a hare, and she was said to be able to take the form of a hare. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg representing the god, and the hare the goddess. Some Neo-pagans believe that she was sometimes depicted with a hare's head, though it is not possible to substantiate this belief as no known animal-headed deities appear in Germanic cult objects. Eggs and rabbits are sacred to her, as is the full moon, since the ancients saw in its markings the image of a rabbit or hare. Pagan Anglo-Saxons made offerings of colored eggs to her at the Vernal Equinox. They placed them at graves especially, probably as a charm of rebirth. The Goddess of Fertility was also the Goddess of Grain, so offerings of bread and cakes were also made to her. |
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The hare represented love, growth, and especially fertility since they have so many offspring. The beginnings of the Easter bunny are unclear, but in every story, Eostre turned a bird into a hare for one reason or another. Some say the bird was a sacred bird that belonged to Eostre, and she turned him into a hare out of anger. Others say that the bird was one Eostre found and that was dying from the cold, so she changed him into a hare to keep warm. Other stories say Eostre turned the bird into a hare that could lay colored eggs to entertain a group of children. Many stories say that after she turned the bird into the hare that the animal was very unhappy so at the begging of the children to help the poor hare, Eostre allowed the hare to lay eggs once a year in the springtime at Easter. To thank the children for asking Eostre to help him, he delivers the eggs to the children. To remind herself of what she had done, Eostre etched the outline of a hare into the face of the full moon, where you an see it facing left with its ears going back to the right. |
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Rabbits and hares are very similar except rabbits have shorter ears and live in burrow colonies in the ground (except for cottontails). Hares are bigger than rabbits and have stronger back legs and black markings on their ears. The main zoological distinction between rabbits and hares is that young rabbits are born naked with their eyes closed and hares are born furry with their eyes open. Many hares turn white in the winter; rabbits do not. Also, the skulls of rabbits and hares are distinctly different. |
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In Germany, children await the arrival of Oschter Haws, a rabbit who will lay colored eggs in nests for the children. This German tradition popularized the 'Easter bunny' in America when introduced in Pennsylvania by German settlers.
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Eggs... European tribes celebrated the beginning of spring by blessing seeds for growth and placing colored eggs on an altar to bring them fertility for the upcoming year. The Romans believed that all life proceeded from an egg, so the egg came to symbolize birth and rebirth. Ancient Romans and Greeks used eggs as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and abundance. The Romans celebrated the Easter season by running races on an oval track with eggs as prizes. Christians regarded eggs as the seeds of life and see them as a symbol of Jesus' resurrection. The coloring of eggs to celebrate spring dates back too far to know when it began. Crimson eggs, to honor the blood of Christ, are exchanged in Greece. In parts of Germany and Austria green eggs are used on Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday). Slavic peoples decorate their eggs in special patterns of gold and silver. |
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Carl Fabergé created eggs out of gold, silver, and jewels with tiny figures inside from the 1880s to 1917. Austrian artists design patterns by fastening ferns and tiny plants around the eggs, which are then boiled. The plants are then removed revealing a white pattern. Melted beeswax is applied the egg in making Pysanki eggs and then the egg is dipped in successive baths of dye. After each dip, wax is painted over the area where the preceding color is to remain to form a complex pattern of lines and colors emerges into a work of art. The Armenians would decorate hollow eggs with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other religious designs. Sometimes eggs are blown out to leave the hollow shell for decorating and sometimes hung on Easter trees. |  |
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The two traditional Easter egg games are the Easter Egg Hunt and the Easter Egg Roll. The rules of an Easter Egg Roll are to see who can roll an egg the greatest distance or can make the roll without breaking it, usually down a grassy hillside or slope. A famous egg rolling takes place on the White House Lawn each year. |  |
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Easter is the principal
festival of the Christian church year, the oldest Christian observance
after the Sabbath, and celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on
the third day after his Crucifixion on Good Friday
and marks the end of the forty-six
days of Lent, a period of fasting and penitence which begins on Ash Wednesday.
Lent
really comprises 40 days since the 6 Sundays during this period
are excluded from the Lenten fast, and are days that set apart
to commemorate Easter Sunday. |
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| Matthew
28 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." 8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." |
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Mark
16 1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' " |
| Luke
24 1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. |
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John
20 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' " 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. |
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Easter baskets symbolized birds' nests. Easter eggs are put in grass nests to honor Eostre. The Easter basket later evolved in the Catholic tradition, where each family brought a basket of food to mass on Easter Sunday to have it blessed for the evening meal. Later, children would use Easter baskets to gather colored eggs and candy.
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Easter Lilies The Easter Lily (Lilium longiforum) is native to the southern islands of Japan. Lilies were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ's agony. Tradition has it that the white lilies sprung up where drops of Christ's sweat fell to the ground in his final hours. To the pagans, the use of lilies at Easter are that of a phallic symbol which represents the reproductive organs. |
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Here Comes Peter
Cottontail
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In 325, the Council of Nicaea (under the emperor Constantine) decided that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The Alexandrians then fixed the date of the equinox at March 21. So Easter falls between March 21 and April 25. Easter doesn't fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar (based on the Sun). Instead, it is based on a lunar calendar. Easter was well established by the second century, but there had been dispute over the exact date between the Eastern and Western Churches. The the Eastern Orthodox Churches using the Julian calendar wanted to have it on a weekday because early Christians observed Passover every year on the 14th of Nisan, the month based on the lunar calendar. But, the West (using the Gregorian calendar) wanted that Easter should always be a Sunday regardless of the date. Some churches in the East still observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival. The preparation begins as early as the Ash Wednesday from which the period of penitence in the Lent begins. The Lent and the Holy week both end on the Easter Sunday. The timing of Easter depends on the Jewish Pesach, in English Passover, which commemorates the sparing of the Hebrew first-born (Exodus) since it is during this holiday that Jesus is believed to have been resurrected. |
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Hot cross buns are typically eaten on Good Friday and during Lent. Hot Cross Buns began as a cake baked in the form of a bull with a cross upon it to represent its horns or representing the moon and its four quarters which were offered to Zeus. In the 12th century, an Angelican monk placed the sign of the cross on the buns to honor Good Friday, a Christian holiday also known as the Day of the Cross. To make sure that hot cross buns were no longer a pagen food, Queen Elizabeth I passed a law banning the baking and eating of Hot Cross Buns except during Easter, Christmas, and funerals. People hung buns from their kitchen ceilings to protect their houses from evil in the coming year. Good Friday bread and buns were said never to go moldy, probably because the buns were baked so hard that there was no moisture left for mold. Hot cross buns were used in powdered form to treat illnesses.
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New Easter Clothes Wearing new clothing on Easter originated in 300 A.D. with the first Christian emperor, Constantine, who declared that his court members should wear their finest clothes on Easter. New clothes also signify new beginnings. In early times, people who were baptized at the Easter Vigil dressed in white robes, which they would wear throughout the week to symbolize their new life. |
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Easter Links |
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When is Easter? 