Each year, memes populate social media claiming that Easter has pagan roots. In other words, the early church co-opted pagan dates or practices and incorporated them into the faith.
Such is not the case with Easter, which celebrates the central events of the Christian faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, those events took place in and around Passover on the Jewish calendar. More on that in a moment.
The main basis for claiming Easter has pagan roots is the uncertainty of the origin of the name itself in English.
As Christian apologist Wes Huff explained in a 2022 video, it’s only in Germanic-based languages, including English, that the word is used, while in Latin languages Easter is some derivation of Pascha (“Passover”), such as Pâques, the French word for Easter.
He went on to argue that a likely origin for the name Easter is the Germanic word Eosturmonath or Easter month, which was the fourth month on the German calendar when Easter generally falls.
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Further, the Christian answer site Got Questions discounts the assertion that the word Easter is associated with the Saxon pagan goddess Eastre/Eostre, the “goddess of the East” (from where the sun rises).
“The major problem with associating the origin of Easter with the pagan goddess Eastre/Eostre is that we have no hard evidence that such a goddess was ever worshiped by anyone, anywhere,” the site says.
“So, while the word Easter most likely comes from an old word for ‘east’ or the name of a springtime month, we don’t have much evidence that suggests anything more. Assertions that Easter is pagan or that Christians have appropriated a goddess-holiday are untenable,” Got Questions concludes.
Will you attend church on Easter?
Yes: 75% (15 Votes)
No: 25% (5 Votes)
The Date Easter is Celebrated
The time window of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection is locked in, based on the Biblical accounts.
As Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Michael A.G. Haykin explained in a recent blog post, “All four of the Gospels tie the death of our Lord Jesus to the Jewish festival of the Passover (Matthew 26:17–19; Mark 14:12–16; Luke 22:7–13; John 13:1).”
Keep in mind that the Jewish people have been celebrating Passover annually for over 3,000 years, since their liberation from Egyptian slavery, around the 13th century B.C.
Given its tie-in to Passover, the crucifixion likely fell on the 14th Day of Nisan on the Jewish calendar, and the resurrection on the 16th day. Some scholars believe Christ was crucified on Nisan 15 and resurrected on Nisan 17. That date fell on Tuesday this year.
So why is Easter on Sunday? Britannica noted that many churches, early on, began celebrating Easter on Sunday because the Bible says Jesus arose on the first day of the week.
So the crucifixion was on Friday, and resurrection day was Sunday. The days of the week that Passover falls on change each year, based on the Jewish calendar, which employs the cycles of the Moon.
“Consequently, Easter was always celebrated on the first Sunday after the 14th day of the month of Nisan,” according to Britannica, but there was not uniformity among the churches in this practice, with some opting to stick strictly with the dates of the Jewish Passover.
Therefore, “The Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). Easter, therefore, can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25,” Britannica said.
What About Easter Bunnies and Decorated Eggs?
Huff posits that bunnies in the German culture, particularly, are most associated with spring. After lying low during the winter, snowy months, bunnies can be seen all over the place in April.
The tradition of decorating Easter eggs apparently dates back to at least King Edward I, who in the 13th century gave them to his family and friends.
And the reason that eggs were hard-boiled around Easter was to preserve them longer, because during the 40-day Lenten fast in Europe, Christians did not eat meat, dairy, or eggs.
This practice also resulted in an excess of eggs in the days leading up to Easter, meaning plenty of them were available to decorate, Huff said.
Conclusion
Easter is not rooted in paganism, but commemorates the central event of the Christian faith.
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