The Traditions of Easter

7/31/2019 The Traditions of Easter

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The Traditions of Easter

As with almost all "Christian" holidays,Easter has been secularized andcommercialized. The dichotomousnature of Easter and its symbols,however, is not necessarily a modern

fabrication.Since its conception as a holycelebration in the second century,Easter has had its non-religious side. Infact, Easter was originally a

pagan festival.The ancient Saxonscelebrated the return ofspring with an uproariousfestival commemorating their goddessof offspring and of springtime, Easter.When the second-century Christianmissionaries encountered the tribes ofthe north with their pagan celebrations,they attempted to convert them toChristianity. They did so, however, in a

clandestine manner.


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It would have been suicide for the veryearly Christian converts to celebrate

their holy days with observances thatdid not coincide with celebrations thatalready existed. To save lives, themissionaries cleverly decided to spreadtheir religious message slowlythroughout the populations by allowing

them to continue to celebrate paganfeasts, but to do so in a Christianmanner.As it happened, the pagan festival ofEastre occurred at the same time of

year as the Christian observance of theResurrection of Christ. It made sense,therefore, to alter the festival itself, tomake it a Christian celebration asconverts were slowly won over. The

early name, Eastre, was eventuallychanged to its modern spelling, Easter.


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The Date of Easter

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously

celebrated on different days of the week,including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In thatyear, the Council of Nicaea was convened byemperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rulewhich states that Easter shall be celebrated onthe first Sunday that occurs after the first full

moon on or after the vernal equinox. However,a caveat must be introduced here. The "fullmoon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon,which is defined as the fourteenth day of atabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds tothe ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not alwaysoccur on the same date as the astronomical full

moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" isalways on March 21. Therefore, Easter must becelebrated on a Sunday between the dates ofMarch 22 and April 25.


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The Lenten Season

Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to

Easter Sunday. It begins on AshWednesday. Mardi Gras(French for "FatTuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called"Carnival," practiced around the world, on theTuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It wasdesigned as a way to "get it all out" before the

sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is thefocal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in theU.S. Read about the religious meanings ofthe Lenten Season.

The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny is not amodern invention. The symboloriginated with the pagan festivalof Eastre. The goddess, Eastre,was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons throughher earthly symbol, the rabbit.

The Germans brought the symbol of the Easterrabbit to America. It was widely ignored byother Christians until shortly after the Civil War.In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated

in America until after that time.
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The Easter Egg

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself,

the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday ofEaster. The exchange of eggs in the springtimeis a custom that was centuries old when Easterwas first celebrated by Christians.From the earliest times, the egg was a symbolof rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often

wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant,colored brightly by boiling them with the leavesor petals of certain flowers.Today, children hunt colored eggs and placethem in Easter baskets along with the modernversion of real Easter eggs -- those made ofplastic or chocolate candy.

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The Traditions of Easter