What Does Easter Mean to God?

EASTER​—the “queen of festivals!” festum festorum!​—is said to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. But what did Jesus have to say about commemorating his resurrection? Did the apostles command us to celebrate it? Is the celebration of Easter a God-​given command or a man-​made tradition? You can easily find answers to these questions by examining two sources of information​—history and the Bible.

History Speaks

First, what does history have to say? Writing in the fifth century C.E., historian Socrates Scholasticus stated in his Ecclesiastical History: “It seems to me that the feast of Easter has been introduced into the church from some old usage, just as many other customs have been established.”

The book Curiosities of Popular Customs explains that it was the policy of the “Church to give a Christian significance to such of the extant pagan ceremonies as could not be rooted out. In the case of Easter the conversion was peculiarly easy. Joy at the rising of the natural sun, and at the awakening of nature from the death of winter, became joy at the rising of the Sun of righteousness, at the resurrection of Christ from the grave. Some of the pagan observances which took place about the 1st of May were also shifted to correspond with the celebration of Easter. Many new features were added.”

In his book Celebrations, Robert J. Myers agrees, stating that “many of the pagan rebirth rites, celebrated at the vernal equinox, became part of the feast.” These statements are supported by The New Encyclopædia Britannica, which says: “As at Christmas, so also at Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient pagan survivals​—in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit.”

Of Pagan Origin?

Evidently, then, Easter as it is celebrated today is saturated with pagan rites and customs. This is not to say, however, that the celebration of Easter has no relationship to some Biblical events.

For instance, Easter has been referred to as the successor to the Jewish Passover, a Biblical event. The book Curiosities of Popular Customs tells us that “in the early Church Easter was identical in date with the Passover, as in fact the two festivals are identical in their root.” It is not surprising then, that in a number of languages, such as French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and others, the word for Easter and the word for Passover are identical or similar.

However, early Christians did not hold an annual feast to celebrate a Christianized version of the Jewish Passover. The Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions states regarding Easter: “The primitive observance was actually the anniversary (14 Nisan, according to the Jewish lunar calendar) of Jesus’ crucifixion.”

The Bible tells us that on the evening before his death, Jesus met with his disciples in a large room to observe the Jewish Passover. (Mark 14:12-16) It was after this, his last Passover, that Jesus instituted what is known as the Lord’s Evening Meal. Then he commanded his disciples: “Keep doing this in remembrance of me.”​—Luke 22:19.

This Lord’s Evening Meal, which was to be celebrated once a year, was in commemoration of Jesus’ death. The apostle Paul said regarding this anniversary: “As often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord.”​—1 Corinthians 11:25, 26.

Adulterating Bible Teaching

In obedience to this Scriptural mandate, true Christians held this observance every year on the 14th of Nisan. However, in time, people also began to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. The New Encyclopædia Britannica explains that the “earliest Christians celebrated the Lord’s Passover at the same time as the Jews, during the night of the first (paschal) full Moon of the first month of spring (Nisan 14-15). By the middle of the 2nd century, most churches had transferred this celebration to the Sunday after the Jewish feast.”

The book Seasonal Feasts and Festivals says: “It was apparently not until towards the end of the fourth century in Jerusalem that Good Friday and Easter Day were kept as separate commemorations.”

Some scholars believe that because of the growing enmity between professed Christians and the Jews, some leaders of Christendom did not want their most important holiday to correspond exactly in date with the most important Jewish holiday. This attitude led to a change. In time most of Christendom began to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on the first Sunday after the full moon that follows the spring equinox and made this its most important religious celebration. In effect they downgraded to a lower position the celebration of Jesus’ death.

According to these sources, then, Christendom’s Easter actually usurps the original anniversary of Jesus’ death.

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What Is the Origin of the Word “Easter”?

▪ “The name, which is in use only among the English- and German-​speaking peoples, is derived, in all probability, from that of a goddess of the heathen Saxons, Ostara, Osterr, or Eastre. She was the personification of the East, of the morning, of the spring.”​—Curiosities of Popular Customs, by William S. Walsh.

▪ “We are told by an ancient English chronicler, the Venerable Bede, that the word ‘Easter’ was originally the name of an Anglo-​Saxon goddess of the dawn, known as Eostre or Ostara, whose principal festival was kept at the vernal equinox. We only have Bede’s word for it, for no record of such a goddess is to be found elsewhere, but it is unlikely that Bede, as a devout Christian, would have gone out of his way to invent a pagan origin for Easter. But whether or not there was ever such a goddess, it seems most likely that some historical connection must exist between the words ‘Easter’ and ‘East’, where the sun rises.”​—Easter—​Its Story and Meaning, by Alan W. Watts.

▪ “The origin of the term for the feast of Christ’s Resurrection has been popularly considered to be from the Anglo-​Saxon Eastre, a goddess of spring. However, recent studies by Knobloch . . . present another explanation.”​—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

▪ “The English name Easter, like the German Ostern, probably derives from Eostur, the Norse word for the spring season, and not from Eostre, the name of an Anglo-​Saxon goddess.”​—The Encyclopedia of Religion.