No one knows who first celebrated the holiday associated with the coming of spring. Hundreds of thousands of years before Christianity started the Easter Holiday, the pagans of Europe and probably elsewhere observed the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox sometimes comes in March when the sunlight is approximately equal to the night, which signifies the beginning of spring. This particular date was extremely important to people so they would know that it was time to prepare to plant their crops. In many European communities, a spring festival celebrated the fertility goddess “Eostre.” Eostre was represented as a rabbit that became active at sunrise in the spring of the year. This was important because it coincided with the time to plant crops known as the Vernal Equinox. “When the Catholic church set about converting the pagans of Northern Europe, they co-opted the symbols of Pagan Eostre, including the name, to their holy day marking the crucifixion of Christ, which fell around the same time.” (Maguire, 2020)
Many of the holidays we celebrate originated from pagan customs and pagan celebrations. Many churches in England and Europe were built on top of where pagan churches, temples, and religious sites stood. The pagans looked at eggs as a symbol of new life and enjoyed the process of new life hatching out of the eggs. After a cold winter, they looked forward to the renewal of life in nature’s plants and animals. Spring was also celebrated as a time for new love and relationships. For reasons many folks still wonder about, someone started decorating the eggs and accusing rabbits of hiding the eggs from sight. Rabbits and hares are also associated with fertility and were symbols linked to the goddess Eostre. According to Professor Cusack, the first association of the rabbit with Easter was a mention of the “Easter hare” in a book by German professor of medicine Georg Franck von Franckenau published in 1722. “He recalls a folklore that hares would hide the colored eggs that children hunted for, which suggests to us that as early as the 18th century, decorated eggs were hidden in gardens for egg hunts.” (Travers, 2017) The Easter Bunny, colored eggs, Easter Bonnets, and baskets full of candy are very popular. But Easter is way more than that.
Each year in the spring, the world goes into complete renewal. Birds nest, crops are planted, plants and flowers bloom, and everything is refreshing its existence. The most significant revival in the history of the world happens in a tomb just outside of Jerusalem. In John 3:38, Jesus tells us, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” Jesus was on earth to bring the sinner into the light and show us the way to eternal life. Jesus was the sacrifice that paid for all man’s sins. Mark 10:45 states, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The Old Testament has many references to animal sacrifices. This practice used many lambs to acknowledge the goodness and righteousness of God. In the New Testament, Jesus took the place of the sacrificial animals. Hebrews 10 addresses Jesus as the “once and for all” sacrifice. The day-after-day gifts could now end, and we can know that Jesus gave the most significant sacrifice for our sins. “Day after day, priests offer blood sacrifices for sins. Jesus, however, is a different kind of priest. “When this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time, he has waited for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:12-14).” (Brodie, 2021)
We have countless reasons to recognize the resurrection as the most important and influential event in human history. The very foundation of the Christian religion comes from the resurrection. At the gravesite, Jesus runs into Mary Magdalene. In John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Is there any more important statement for us to hear? Believing in the resurrection acknowledges the enormous power of God. It would be hard to explain how a person can believe in Jesus’ God without believing in the resurrection. First Corinthians 15:54-55 tells us that God has given humanity victory over death and forgiven our sins. Only God has this ability. Only he can resurrect and defeat death. The resurrection validates the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh. Matthew 16:1-4 describes the resurrection as authenticating the ministry of Jesus. The importance of Jesus, the validation of Jesus being God, and the importance of the resurrection is referred numerous times from early in the Old Testament through the Gospels. “If Jesus Christ is not resurrected, then we have no hope that we will be. In fact, apart from Christ’s resurrection, we have no Savior, salvation, or hope of eternal life. As Paul said, our faith would be “useless,” the gospel would be altogether powerless, and our sins would remain unforgiven (1 Corinthians 15:14–19). (Writer, 2022)
Somewhere around 325/330AD, it was decided that the celebration now called Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the vernal equinox. As time passed, people realized that the Moon did not change consistently with the calendar. They also noticed that the planting season varied, so they decided Easter would be a “moveable feast.” Still, they required it to be celebrated between March 25th and April 25th. Many people claim that Christmas is the most important religious holiday, and the birth of Jesus is significant. But Easter confirms and solidifies everything that Jesus stands for and is for the Christian faith. Without the resurrection, it could be argued that Jesus was just another prophet or holy man. But Easter proves Jesus was and is God’s true Son and sits at God’s right hand.
Brodie, J. (2021, 3 9). CrossWalk.com. Retrieved from Why Was Jesus Crucified?: https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/easter/why-was-jesus-crucified.html
Maguire, L. (2020, 4 7). My Irish Jeweler. Retrieved from How the Ancient Celts Helped Shape Easter: https://www.myirishjeweler.com/blog/how-the-ancient-celts-helped-shape-easter/#:~:text=Scholars%20can%20trace%20the%20origins,helped%20shape%20our%20Easter%20traditions.
Travers, P. (2017, 4 14). ABC.net. Retrieved from Origins of Easter: From Pagan Festivals and Christianity to Bunnies and Chocolate Eggs: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-15/the-origins-of-easter-from-pagan-roots-to-chocolate-eggs/8440134
Writer, S. (2022, 1 4). GotQuestions. Retrieved from Why is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Important: https://www.gotquestions.org/resurrection-Christ-important.html