English
11 April 2009
Easter Sunday is an ecclesiastical holiday that commemorates the resurrection of Christ.
The English word ‘Easter’ is derived from a Germanic word for ‘east’; according to Bede, the name comes from a Germanic goddess Eostre. He writes:
Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated ‘Paschal month’, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.
Aside from the traditional English name for the day, which has really nothing to do with the festival itself, certain traditional customs unrelated to the Resurrection are pagan in origin. The ancient Persians have painted eggs for their spring equinox festival Nowrooz for at least 2500 years. The hare (or ‘bunny’) is also a symbol of fertility, and some believe it became associated with Easter through ancient Germanic festivals.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church the egg is said to symbolize the sealed tomb of Christ, the cracking of which symbolized his resurrection from the dead; the eggs are dyed red to symbolize his blood. Presumably missionaries to pagan tribes kept some aspects of the local fertility festivals while giving them Christian meanings.
Legends have also been invented to explain the appearance of eggs in Easter celebrations. One tradition says that following Jesus’ death and resurrection, Mary Magdalene was invited to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed, “Christ is risen!” Caesar laughed, and said, “Christ has no more risen than that egg is red.” Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned blood-red.
Most languages other than English and German call the festival by some derivative of the Hebrew פסח pesach, usually via the Greek πασχα pascha (for example, the word in French is pâques and the Danish påske); this word is the same as the word used for the Jewish Passover. Some Slavic languages term the feast ‘Great Day’ or ‘Great Night’, and a few use a word meaning ‘Resurrection’.
Because of the probably pagan derivation of the word ‘Easter’, the Orthodox Church prefers to use the term ‘Pascha’ (from the Greek) as the more proper term. Some churches also call the day ‘Resurrection Day’.
Picture credit: Viktar Pałściuk. Used by permission.
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