SPRING MEANS THE EASTER BUNNY IS IN TOWN!
Easter is a religious holiday celebrated by millions worldwide every spring. For Christians this is probably the most s scared holiday in which according to scripture Jesus Christ rose from the dead 3 days after he was crucified. For others it is merely a day for Easter egg hunts and candy that a six foot rabbit delivered the night before. How long have we been celebrating this holiday? And when did the Easter Bunny make his first appearance? What is the origin of the name Easter?
It all began with the ancient Saxons, who celebrated the return of spring with a gala festival honoring their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Easter. The second-century Christian missionaries saw these pagan celebrations and attempted to convert the Saxons to Christianity. They did so, however, in a deceptive manner.
It would have been asking for trouble by bombarding these pagan festivals, so the missionaries cleverly decided to spread God’s word slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue with their pagan feasts, providing they do so in a Christian manner.
Since the pagan festival of Easter occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ, it only made sense to change the festival itself. As converts were slowly won over, it was changed to a Christian Celebration. The name Easter, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter. When is Easter Celebrated?
One known fact is that that Easter is not celebrated at the anniversary of Jesus' death and resurrection. The year of his crucifixion is unknown with estimates ranging from 29 to 33 CE. As a result, the anniversaries of the actual events go unobserved year after year.
Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20th, which is the nominal date of the Spring Equinox. Many sources claim that this is not the actual date, while other sources use an incorrect date of MAR-21. One known fact is that the timing of the full moon is based upon the Metonic cycle (a method of calculating the date of the full moon by the ancient Greek astronomer Meton, who lived in the 5th century BCE). This is only an approximate calculation. For example, in the year 2019, the date of Easter according to a precise astronomical calculation would be MAR-24.
In the west, Easter Sunday can fall between March 22 to April 25th. Eastern Orthodox churches occasionally celebrate Easter on the same day as the rest of Christendom. If that date does not follow Passover, then the Orthodox churches will delay their Easter – even as long as a month. And, if that is complicated enough you have the majority of Eastern Orthodox churches using the Julian calendar, which is offset by 12 days from the more often used Gregorian calendar.
Okay, so let’s talk about Easter traditions-like that tall rabbit for example. Did you know that the Easter Bunny has been around for quite awhile? It all originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. And the goddess Eastre was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, which so happened to be- the rabbit. As years passed the Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was pretty much ignored by other Christians until after the Civil War. The Easter holiday wasn’t widely celebrated until after the war.
And what’s up with those colorful eggs? Eggs have long been exchanged by Christians when Easter was first celebrated centuries ago. The egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. If you had money, then you wrapped your eggs in a gold leaf, however; if you were a peasant then you would simply color them by boiling them with the petals or leaves of bright flowers. Today many Christians as well as non Christians take part in these fun Easter traditions that have been handed down through the generations of our ancestors.