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BEFORE Jesus' Birth?
Here is the surprising story of how a pagan
festival came to be regarded as a Christian
holiday.
H
AVE
you ever wondered what
colored eg,gs have to do with
the death of Jesus Christ? And
what Easter rabbits and "hot-cross"
buns have to do with a supposed Sunday
resurrection?
How did a Christian world come
to accept and celebrate what were at
one time pagan religious traditions?
Let's pull back the curtain of time
and see, at this season, how and why
these strange customs became part of
today's religious heritage.
T he Little Known History of
Easter
Turn back the pages of history for
a moment to the year 8 B.
C.
lt's
about four years before Jesus' birth.
Notice wbat was taking place in that
particular year among the non-Christian
population of Europe - the Germanic
people.
As was customary with the spring
of each year, a particular event was
about to take place. General excitement
permeated the towns and villages.
It was a Saturday evening, called
Stmmm-abend,
when the event was to
occur. On this particular evening in
8 B.
C.,
everyone left his habitation
and then gathered outside the village
or town. All those capable would col·
lect wood, place it around an oak tree,
and set it alight.
As the massive mountain of wood
began to buco, everyone would gather
by
Gerhord O. Marx
around the fue, completely encirding
it. Flames would light up the entire
sky. This ceremony occurred through·
out the land.
Then followed
the
more solemn part
of the evening. The populace would
kneel and beseech
Srmna,
their
goddess
of dawn
as she was then called, im·
ploring her to bring back the long·
awaited spring days. The date of this
festival was a Saturday night about
the twenty·first of March.
Thls was the 6me of the vernal
equinox, when the short winter days
cease and the long, warm spring months
begin. (As a matter of interest, the
German word for Saturday -
Som1·
abend
-
traces its origin back to the
Saturday night on which the goddess
S11nna
was worshipped. The ancient
Germans counted their days from eve·
ning to evening. Thus Saturday eve
was actually the beginning of Sunday.)
After having offered sacrifices to the
goddess of the spcing on this evening,
the people retired till early morning.
On this morning, Sunday - some
time before dawn - everyone would
meet again outside with their faces to
the East - toward the rising sun -
praising their goddess
Srmna
for bring·
ing them this long·awalted first day
of spring.
This
day, the first Sunday after
March 21, was their annual holiday.
It was a joyous day of various celebra–
tions and games. One of the games
was to find colored eggs which were
hidden in the grass, around trees, and
in other hiding places. The children
especially enjoyed these games. Al–
though the coloring varied, thc pre·
dominant colors of tbe eg,gs were red
and gold - symbolizing the bright
rays of the sun. Sorne of the eg,gs were
given as an offering to the spring god·
dess and the others were caten. Eg,gs
were regarded as the emblem of ger–
minating life of early spring. "Hot·
cross" brins were also baked and offered
to the goddess.
(Encyclopaedia of Re·
ligion and Ethics,
vol.
2,
p. 34 and
Symbolik,
W. Menzel, p. 180.)
Why Called Easter?
Moving forward in history to a
time
severa! centuries after the birth of
Christ, we find the heathen populace
of Europe still obsecving this annual
sprjng festival to the goddess of dawn
or spring. But now she was known by
another, more general name - Eostre.
The name
Su11na
had merely been
tbe localized German name, which was
now changed to the more general name
Eostre.
Here is what happened.
During the previous centuries, vast
numbers of people from Persia and
Assyria had settled on the European
mainland. These Eastem peoples were
also
worshipping a spring goddess.
Their celebration likewise coincided
with the beginning of spring. In fact,
even colored eg,gs were associated with