One little boy gave this answer: Jesus’ Disciples really liked eggs, but Jesus had high cholesterol so they couldn’t eat them. When the Disciples thought He was dead and gone they decided to have eggs for breakfast. It just so happened this was the morning Jesus was raised from the dead, and appeared to His disciples. When Peter looked up and saw Jesus coming he said, “Quick fellas...hide the eggs.”
The truth is no one knows for sure the origins of Easter, but our best bet comes
from Bede, a late-seventh-century historian and scholar from Anglo-Saxon
England. He says Easter's name comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre,
associated with spring and fertility, and celebrated around the vernal equinox.
So there you go. As Christmas was moved to coincide with the pagan celebration
of winter, Easter was likely moved to coincide and replace the pagan celebration
of spring. (Christianity Today, “Why Easter?” by Ted Olsen, 4/10/98)
It’s interesting that Easter is observed by the churches of the West (that would be us) on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or following the spring equinox. This means Easter is a "movable" feast which can occur as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. However, Eastern Orthodox churches observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival. That being the case, this year Passover begins at sundown on April 8th making Resurrection Sunday April 12th, which coincides with the week of Passover.
How about Easter Americana? Thank goodness Easter has not become as commercialized as Christmas. After all, angels singing and a bouncing baby boy are much more marketable than torturing and killing an innocent man.
However, many people, even Christians miss the point (not to mention the date). When Easter is elevated to the status of a ‘holy-day’ we diminish the importance of the other fifty-one Sunday’s throughout the year, forgetting the fact that every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you don't believe me, just check out how many people are at church on Easter Sunday as compared to the rest of the year.
aj
2 comments:
Good site! Thanks for all the information. I'm a minister in Kansas and just started Family Fountain with articles for/about families. Here is the site if you get a chance to check it out: http://warrenbaldwin.blogspot.com/
Waren
That's really interesting, Andy. I've done a lot of research on this and other similar topics. I was surprised by what I found.
For the most part, Christians weren't persecuted in the first century for being Christians. They were persecuted by the Romans for being a sect of Judaism. The Jews in Jerusalem were a thorn in the flesh of Rome. They were still fighting Rome for their freedom and for their land.
Many of the non-Jewish "Christians" lived closer to Rome, and they could more easily receive the retribution.
In time, the "Church Fathers" that were gentiles began creating doctrines and writing about them. These doctrines were pretty much against everything that were considered to be Jewish. They were trying to convince Rome that they were no longer associated with the Jews.
Easter is the name of a fertility goddess.....the same as Astarte, Ashtoreth and others, just different languages. This holiday existed long before the birth of our Messiah. In 325 AD Constantine was attempting to combine a pagan Rome with his new Christian beliefs to make a new Christianized Rome. He proclaimed Easter was now about the resurrection of Jesus, and he made it illegal for Christians to celebrate Passover.....which many believers were still celebrating Passover.
A similar thing happened with Christmas to get the pagans on board with Christianity. They didn't care what the holiday was called as long as they were still able to celebrate their pre-existing holiday.
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