Easter is considered to be a sacred holiday for most Christians, and rightfully so. It is written that Jesus was crucified on the cross by the Romans on what we now call Good Friday, and that He rose from the dead on the subsequent Sunday, now commemorated as Easter.
However, this general conceptualization as to what Easter means to us today is not necessarily the true origin of this particular holiday period. Indeed, ritualistic observances of what we now call “Easter” are thought to have predated the time of Jesus by at least a century or more. Further, even if this view is not accepted, much, if indeed not all, of what constitutes modern-day Easter celebrations can be attributed to alternative sources other than Christianity and/or Jesus.
Of all the holidays recognized by various cultures, Easter is perhaps the most convoluted, complicated, and thus confusing, of them all. Even its name is subject to debate, at least in reference to a proper spelling. The most readily accepted origin of such is that the term was derived from the name of the Celtic Goddess of Fertility, Oestre. However, various spellings (e.g., Eastre, Eostre, Oester, Ostara, etc.) have been noted in the pertinent literature, with “Easter” representing the etymologically Anglicized version.
But why would we now have a Christian holiday associated with, or at least integrated into, the legend of an ancient pagan civilization’s fertility goddess?
Even today, humans can be relatively simplistic in their understanding of how life manifests itself in the world. So, if we consider the mindset of the average person 2000 years ago, it is not difficult to agree with historical accounts of cultures that believed in “magic” and “spirits” and such. Indeed, many of us even today retain some types of superstitions and ways of supposedly enhancing our “luck” in life (e.g,, knocking on wood, crossing fingers, etc.) so to attribute such thought patterns to our distant ancestors is not really much of a stretch of imagination.
Thus cometh Oestre, Fertility Goddess of the Celtics of what is now Ireland, Scotland, and the northwestern part of England. It was the contention of the Celts that Oestre was the bringer of spring and thus the life precipitated by its commencement. Having arrived later than usual one year, Oestre discovered a bird that, because winter had remained longer than normal, was frozen in the snow. Feeling guilty for not having done her job on time, Oestre transformed the egg-laying bird into something that could adapt itself to cold weather and, to ensure survival of the species, propagate more readily. What better animal than a snow hare that could also lay eggs? And so it was that the original “Oestre Bunny” came to be. The only stipulation seems to be that this magical creature was limited to laying (her?) eggs on just one particular day each year. That day became what we now refer to as Easter Sunday and was considered by these ancient peoples to be the true “natural” beginning of the spring season.
So how did Christianity become intertwined with the Celtics, or vice-versa? Serendipity. It just so happened that Jesus’ crucifixion transpired at about the same time as the arrival of spring. Combine this with the idea that He was resurrected from the dead (i.e., a “rebirth”) and the gradual integration of Christian practices with those of the pagan tribes of what is now Great Britain, and the result is a blending of traditions and beliefs as the Romans invaded, conquered, and incorporated the Celts and others into their particular brand of “civilization.” (Christmas is similar to Easter in this respect: what we do today is a general integration of the Christian practices of the Romans and the pagan rituals of the nomadic tribes of ancient Great Britain.)
The symbols that have come to be so readily identified with Easter (e.g., flowering plants, bunnies, eggs, candies, etc.) are loosely associated with various aspects of the story of the holiday’s history. Flowers and budding plants that arise during this period are deemed to be representative of spring and the renewal of life that it brings. Similarly, eggs are considered to be ‘life waiting to happen’ or a “rebirth” in much the same manner as was Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
The practice of coloring eggs seems to have originated in conjunction with the Easter Bunny itself and the semi-religious symbolism of pastel colors (as proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1198 A.D.). Ostensibly, Fertility Goddess Eostre turned a frozen bird (egg-laying) into a winter hare (better equipped to survive the winter and perpetuate propagation of life through rapid breeding), resulting in a rabbit that could lay eggs (multi-colored, at that) on one day each year (i.e., Easter Sunday). Children who were well-behaved (think Christmas and Santa Claus) would be rewarded for their stellar conduct through the delivery of these colorful eggs in, of course, an egg basket (and yes, in defiance of the old adage, all of their eggs probably WERE placed in one basket).
