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E
ASTER EGGS,
Easter bunnies,
Easter bonnets- what do they
have to do with the story of
Jesus?
Stop and think for a moment! Can
you see any logical connection be–
twcen brightly colored eggs, cotton–
tail rabbits, new hats and thc account
of thc life, the death and resurrection
of J csus?
Ccrtainly no basis exists in the Bible
for drawing any such connection. Nor
for that matter is there any example in
the BibleofChristiansattending Easter
sunrise services, eating hot cross buns,
putting ashes on their foreheads or
obscrving Lent.
Yct Eastcr is considered the most
important Christian holiday.
lt
is
supposed to be the high point of the
religious year. Why then are we
unablc to find modern Easter tradi–
tions revealed and explained in the
Biblc as the practice of the Church
Jesus founded?
l f Easter traditions don't come from
the Bible, where do they come from?
Should we participate in them? Would
Jesus participate in them?
The Meaning of " Easter"
h
is no secret. Almost any dictionary
or encyclopedia reveals that the word
March 1980
WhatMost
People Don't
Know
About ·Easter
Is Easter of Christian origin? Don't
be too sure! You may be surprised to learn
what Easter is all about.
Easter
is derived from the name of a
pagan goddess. For example,
Web–
ster's Col/egiate Dictionary
shows
that the word
Easter
comes from the
name of an old Teutonic goddess of
spring.
Notice what an editorial in
Chris–
tianity Today,
a popular magazine of
mainstream Christendom, admits,
"The derivation of the word
Easter
is
somewhat uncertain, but it had todo
with a pagan festiv al and seems to
have been connected with an Anglo–
Saxon spring goddess named Eostre"
(issue of March 28, 1975).
For more than a thousand years
before Jesus' birth a festival to
Eostre was celebrated in the spring.
h
was the season of the budding of
new life-the resurrection of nature
after the dead of winter. It was a
feast of regencration. Throughout
the inhabited world in ancient times
spring festiva ls and various sex
rituals were observed to honor the
fact that the sun's welcome rays were
once again imparting life and
warmth.
The exaltation of fertility played a
prominent part in the festivities.
That is where the egg and the rabbit
carne into the picture.
Early in history the egg became a
by
Clayton Steep
symbol for sex, reproduction and life.
The egg represented a resurrection
and afterlife and was used to cast
magical spells
(Funk and Wagnalls
Standard Dictionary of Folklore,
Myrhology and Legend,
p. 341). Cen–
turies before Jesus was born, colored
eggs werc used in religious worship.
The hare and rabbit, being among
the most fertile animals known, were
also included in sex and fertílity rites.
"The hare represented abundant life
and the fertílity of the earth....
Becausc hares were born with eyes
open, they were sacred to the 'open–
eyed' moon in Egypt, and tbus con–
nected with Easter, as tbe date is set
by the moon's orbít to thís day. The
Germans made the hare sacred to the
goddess Eastre, and said that on
Easter Eve it would lay eggs for good
childrcn"
(A Treasury of American
Superstitions,
p. 361).
As Jcsus died and was resurrected
in the spring, professing Christians in
thc sccond century and later, saw in
thesc pagan spring rituals natural
symbols of Christ's resurrection to
new lifc. So they merely "borrowed"
sorne of thc hcathcn customs. This in
spite of thc fact that God strictly
commandcd H is people not to use
pagan customs to worship Him. The
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