Easter is a time of springtime festivals. In Christian
countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday
commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son
of God. But the celebrations of Easter have many customs
and legends5 that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do
with Christianity.
Scholars, accepting the derivation6 proposed by the
8th-century English scholar St. Bede, believe the name
Easter is thought to come from the Scandinavian "Ostra"
and the Teutonic "Ostern" or "Eastre," both Goddesses of
mythology7 signifying8 spring and fertility9 whose festival
was celebrated on the day of the vernal10 equinox11
The Christian celebration of Easter embodies12 a
number of converging traditions with emphasis on the
relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or
Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name used by
Europeans for Easter. Passover is an important feast13 in
the Jewish calendar which is celebrated for 8 days and
commemorates14 the flight and freedom of the Israelites
from slavery15 in Egypt.
Easter is observed by the churches of the West on the
first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or
following the spring equinox (March 21). So Easter became a
"movable" feast which can occur as early as March 22 or as
late as April 25.
Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny are both fertility
symbols, holdovers16 from the feast of Eostara. Other
symbolic parallels include the pagan joy in the rising sun of
spring, which coincides17 with Christians’ joy in the rising
Son of God, and the lighting of candles in churches, which
corresponds to the pagan bonfires. The symbol of the cross
and images of Jesus Christ, through paintings or statues,
are remembered on Easter Day.