The History of Easter

Easter is an important religious holiday to the Christians, as they believe that Jesus rose from the dead two days after His crucifixion. For this reason, Easter is celebrated on 'Resurrection Sunday', two days after Good Friday. Easter can also refer to the season known as Eastertide, or Easter season, which is observed by many Churches. Nowadays, when we think of Easter, we usually think of Easter eggs, chocolates, Easter bunnies, and Sunday Mass. Although, this is not necessarily where Easter comes from. Easter is considered by many Christian denominations to be a sacred holiday linked to Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. It is closely linked to Good Friday (the day of the death of Christ) and to Passover. In fact, some denominations only practice Passover, and not Easter, as they believe that Easter has been so secularized that the holiness is no longer a part of it.

Easter is a moveable feast because it is not set by date, but rather the phases of the moon. There has been much disagreement over time as to the exact date, but it has been agreed upon that Easter will be observed on the first Sunday that is after the Paschal Full moon, which is the full moon that shows itself on or after March 21, the ecclesiastic vernal equinox.

Easter is also linked and associated with the Jewish holiday known as Passover, not only for the symbolism Passover has toward the resurrection of Christ, but because Christ Himself participated in Passover just shortly before His death.

The word 'Easter' itself, came from an old English word Eastre, or Eostre. These words were in use before 900 AD, and refer to the Eostur-month, which is a month of the Germanic calendar. This month may have been named for Eostre, the goddess in Anglo-Saxon paganism as attested to by Bede. In most Romance languages, the name of Easter comes from the Latin word Pascha, which came into existence through a similar Greek term.

In the early days of the Church, the first Christians, whom were made up of various types of people and ethnicities including Jews, Gentiles, and Romans, were aware of a Hebrew calendar, but there is no evidence directly that they celebrated any specific Christian festivals. However, by the second-century, it was considered an undisputed tradition of disciples to celebrate Easter. At this point we read about the first disagreement that dealt with when specifically Easter was to be celebrated. It was called the Quartodeciman controversy, and has been discussed many times since. So, what happened was that the Roman province of Asia celebrated Easter on Nisan 14, while elsewhere, many practised it on the Sunday following.

As many other Christian holidays have in the past, Easter has extended beyond the religious meanings and is now celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. Customs like Easter egg hunting and decorating were originally adopted by the Christians, though they probably stemmed from ancient fertility cults. This is one reason why some Christian denominations have shied away from Easter altogether, claiming that the roots of the Easter we practice today are in pagan cults, instead of in the holiness of Jesus Christ as it used to be. In fact, many non Christians are very involved with Easter, simply as a holiday having to do with easter eggs, the easter bunny, chocolates, and flowers, like a spring celebration. Many people like this do not even know the origin of Easter, or if they do know it is simply not important to them. The nations that have secularized Easter the most have been North America, New Zealand and Australia. In America, the holiday has been so secularized that public schools cannot make reference to either Easter or Good Friday. Instead, they refer to it as 'spring break' which allows them to have a government sanctioned holiday without necessarily observing a 'Christian' holiday.

Easter has been known all through the ages as a time to get together with family, and celebrate. Feasting and laughing has always been a part of Easter, and continues to be till this day. There have even been times in history that religion has forbid fasting on Easter, because it was a time to eat and be merry, I guess like Christmas or Thanksgiving in a sort of way, thankful and celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ died and rose again. Easter continues to change, but one thing that will never change is the fact that Easter is a holiday celebrated by almost all kinds of different people, Christian or non, in the world.