This month is special among Christians. Easter falls on March 31. As such, it is full of meaning…and contention. Easter is our celebration of the resurrection of Christ and, as such, should be considered the most important date on the Christian calendar. Throughout our history, it was a time of great joy, but also a source of many battles, among believers. A major part of the schism between the churches of the East and West was the dating of Easter, among other things. One side wanted it to remain tied to the Passover and another did not. Since Passover was calculated with a lunar calendar, Easter would have fallen on days other than Sunday most years. The other side wanted to keep it on a Sunday close to Passover.
This clash over an event meant to bring peace reminds me of many things happening even today. The church should be a place of peace. It should be a place where peace rules and the people are slow to anger and quick to forgive. But the world loves to divide us. And we love to help the world do just that. We too quickly find reasons to divide. Something we see in many churches around this season are evidence of this tendency to division.
Have you ever had a Christian claim that Easter was a pagan holiday to the goddess Astarte? Have they told you that the bunny was her animal and eggs were used in her worship? It is then concluded that we, as Christians, should refuse to celebrate Easter. I have even seen churches split over this. But I thought it might help to know some of the truth. This is also needed because it is commonly known that my family has brought the practice of “cascarones” with us from South Texas.
First, the name Easter. In the 1850s, a Scottish minister published the book Two Babylons. It was quite influential among evangelicals and fundamentalists. But it was false—it was pseudohistory. I can tell you the book is entertaining because I have read it. It was here that the above was fashioned out of whole cloth—a bold-faced if well-intentioned lie. It is a good example of a false etymology. Just because Easter and Astarte can be made to sound similar does not mean that one led to the other. The name Easter has nothing to do with the goddess Astarte. In Anglo-Saxon, April was known as Eosturmonath (the month of Eostre). This was the name for the month before the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity and was still used—just as we still use the name July for a month named after Julius Caesar. Similarly, our name for Wednesday comes from the pagan god Woden. It means Woden’s Day, and comes from our ancient pagan past. If you hear it in German, Wodenstag, it is even more obvious. Should we stop the use of this name or stop observing Wednesday? So, Easter comes from the name of the month in which the resurrection was most commonly celebrated. As a result, the name took on a different meaning. It became the name for the celebration itself.
But what about bunnies? This grew out of bad science from the Middle Ages. Historically, it was not rabbits but hares that were tied to Easter. It was believed (wrongly) that hares were hermaphrodites and got impregnated without sexual union. This caused them to become associated with the Virgin Mary. It became part of the lore to see the Easter Hare as similar to St. Nick giving out presents to children who had been good. What were most of these presents? Eggs. Which brings us to that part of the subject.
Why eggs? In the Middle Ages, eggs were forbidden during Lent. The last day people were permitted to eat them was Fat Tuesday (Mardis Gras), the day before Ash Wednesday. And because of this, children would go around and beg for eggs, which were usually boiled and colored. But Lent lasts for 40 days. Eggs can’t be eaten during the season, but the chickens don’t stop laying. What to do with the eggs? They could be boiled to lengthen storage. Then on Easter (after Lent), the children would finally be able to eat the eggs. It was common to color them (in the East red is most common for the blood of Christ), and even hide them for children to find. There were often so many that several Easter Supper recipes include eggs.
There is also another connection between eggs and the resurrection. Eggs have been used as early as the first century in the church to symbolize the resurrection through images of the Phoenix egg. The Phoenix was a mythical bird believed to crash to the ground in a fiery death to be reborn from the ashes. Clement of Rome (who may have been mentioned in Philippians 4:3) even used this as an image of the resurrection (1 Clement 25, written in the late first century).
So, why do I bring this up? Some people love to cause issues and divide Christians from one another. They often do it in the name of legalism. The battles over Easter and Christmas and other issues are evidence of this. Keep this in mind.
You see, this is an election year. Elections are often meant to divide. But while Christians should vote and be active, we must never divide over these. I have lost too many friends over political views and support for politicians. Be serious about your views. Hold them dearly. But remember, they are only as good as the truth upon which they are based. Convictions that are based on lies are still lies. Stand on the truth always.