I was going to write a blog about Easter using the research I did on it for a couple of months. While writing it I thought of the many people who practices it and for sure they will not be receptive of what I will be writing. And so I thought, instead of putting my own thoughts into what Easter is, why don’t I just directly quote a couple of the sources I gathered and let my readers decide what Easter is?

Let me just make it clear, full credit goes to the sources I quoted.

So here goes:

Easter

The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda (Simrock, Mythol., 362); Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern. April was called easter-monadh. The plural eâstron is used, because the feast lasts seven days.

Peculiar customs of Easter time
Risus Paschalis

This strange custom originated in Bavaria in the fifteenth century. The priest inserted in his sermon funny stories which would cause his hearers to laugh (Ostermärlein), e.g. a description of how the devil tries to keep the doors of hell locked against the descending Christ. Then the speaker would draw the moral from the story. This Easter laughter, giving rise to grave abuses of the word of God, was prohibited by Clement X (1670-1676) and in the eighteenth century by Maximilian III and the bishops of Bavaria (Wagner, De Risu Paschali, Königsberg, 1705; Linsemeier, Predigt in Deutschland, Munich, 1886).

Easter eggs

Because the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent, they were brought to the table on Easter Day, coloured red to symbolize the Easter joy. This custom is found not only in the Latin but also in the Oriental Churches. The symbolic meaning of a new creation of mankind by Jesus risen from the dead was probably an invention of later times. The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. Easter eggs, the children are told, come from Rome with the bells which on Thursday go to Rome and return Saturday morning. The sponsors in some countries give Easter eggs to their god-children. Coloured eggs are used by children at Easter in a sort of game which consists in testing the strength of the shells (Kraus, Real-Encyklopædie, s.v. Ei). Both coloured and uncoloured eggs are used in some parts of the United States for this game, known as “egg-picking”. Another practice is the “egg-rolling” by children on Easter Monday on the lawn of the White House in Washington.

The Easter rabbit

The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility (Simrock, Mythologie, 551).

source:newadvent.org

The incredible, spiritual egg

Fragile, shelled icon holds importance for many faith groups

By MELISSA NANN BURKE (text) and SAMANTHA DELLINGER (graphics)
Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated: 04/12/2009 11:20:41 AM EDT

Eggs carry significance in many spiritual traditions. They represent everything from the arrival of spring to the Resurrection of Jesus.Perhaps it’s the delicate wonder of new life contained within the egg’s thin, grainy shell. Or its shape evoking the circle of life.

Whatever the case, cultures ’round the world revere this strange little icon of renewal.

PAGAN

Before eggs became associated with Easter, they represented the earth’s rebirth. With spring’s arrival, winter comes to a close, and the earth bursts forth with life – as eggs do.

Eggs have been associated with ancient pagan festivals marking the spring equinox, although scholars debate that. It’s thought that eggs were originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring.

Those who observe the Wiccan and Neopagan festival Ostara, which occurs in March, often use eggs.

“They are the sign of life and rebirth,” said Jess Morehead, a member of the Nature Church in York Township.

“For Ostara, we planted seedlings with a manifested hope for the new season. One member brought painted eggs to lay on the altar as offerings to the elements and deity.”

ZOROASTRIAN

Zoroastrianism was once the state religion of the ancient Persian empires, an area that includes modern-day Iran. In Persian culture, egg painting with one’s family is popular at Nowruz, or Nawruz, a New Year celebration that coincides with the spring equinox.

Eggs, representing fertility, are often placed on a ceremonial table for the New Year ritual of Haft Seen. Dishes on the table symbolize rebirth, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, patience and beauty, among other hopes for the new year.

During a Zoroastrian wedding, an egg is sometimes rotated around the groom’s head and broken to ward off evil.

JEWISH

At Passover, an egg is placed on the seder plate as a symbol of the traditional festival sacrifice (korban chagigah) offered during the days of the Temple in Jerusalem. It also represents the new life of freedom the Israelites experienced after 210 years of slavery in Egypt. The egg has significance in other areas of Jewish culture as well.

“Typically, an egg is served alongside other ’round’ foods (i.e., bagels, onions, tomatoes, etc.) at the Meal of Condolence following a funeral service, as well as at proscribed times in the Jewish calendar when community-wide mourning is observed for various historical events,” said Rabbi Jeffrey R. Astrachan of Temple Beth Israel in York Township.

“By seeing and consuming such foods we are reminded of the circle of life. Even in the face of death, danger and destruction, we are to be hopeful of all the promise that a new life can bring.”

There you go. Let me just say that Easter, the celebration of it not the concept of Easter is never found in the bible not it’s practice described and performed by the servants of God. It is therefore evident that this holiday is not of Christian origin. It was never practiced by Jesus Christ nor his Apostles. Knowing all these, would a Christian practice such an un-Christian holiday?e