Easter has its origin not only in the Christian and Hebrew faiths, but was also a pagan festival celebrated by the Anglo-Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a festival commemorating their goddess of spring and fertility. Pagan tradition says the name Easter is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of spring and fertility called Ostara or Eostre, to whom the month of April is dedicated. Easter can also coincide with the vernal equinox or The Festival of Spring in March, another pagan tradition symbolizing the rebirth of nature following winter.
The pagan festival of Ostara or Eostre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian obserance of the Resurrection of Christ. Eventually, the pagan festival gave way to the Christian celebration as pagans were slowly converted over to Christianity. The early names Ostara or Eostre eventually changed to the modern spelling, Easter.
In Christian religion, Easter is a major celebration, marking as it does the crucifixion of Christ, on what has become known as Good Friday, and his resurrection three days later on Easter Sunday.
Easter may also be derived from the Hebrew "pesach" (Passover), when the angel of death "passed over" the dwellings of the Israelites and spared their first-born.
- Easter is now celebrated (in the words of the Book of Common Prayer) on the first Sunday after the full moon which happens on or after March 21, the Spring Equinox. The date of Passover can also change depending on the phases of the moon.
- Every year at Easter Pope John Paul sends his Urbi et Orbi to the world.
- The custom of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back to Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.
- The use of eggs was forbidden during Lent. On Easter Day, eggs were brought to the table - colored red - symbolizing the Easter joy. This custom is found in the Latin as well as the Oriental churches.
- The egg has always been a symbol of the Resurrection to Christians.
- The traditional act of painting eggs is called Pysanka.
- The Easter Bunny or rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Ostara or Eostre. The goddess, Ostara or Eostre was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.
- In Germany, children were told that the Easter rabbit would bring them eggs on Easter if they were good. This is the origin of our Easter Bunny. It is first mentioned in Germany in the 1500's.
- In medieval times a festival of egg-throwing was held in church, during which the priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choir boys. It was then tossed from one choir boy to the next and whoever held the egg when the clock struck 12 was the winner and retained the egg.
- The first Easter baskets were made to look like bird's nests.
- The Easter basket originates from the ancient Catholic custom of taking the food for Easter dinner to mass to be blessed. This practice, combined with the “rabbit’s nest” awaited by the Pennsylvania Dutch has evolved in the brightly colored containers filled with candy and toys left for children on Easter morning by the Easter rabbit.
- According to the book "Dates and Meanings of Religious & Other Festivals", hot cross buns were used to be kept specially for Good Friday with the symbolism of the cross. It is thought that the idea originated in pagan times with the bun representing the moon and its four quarters. The custom of eating hot cross buns goes back to pre-Christian times, when pagans offered their god, Zeus, a cake baked in the form of a bull, with a cross upon it to represent its horns. Throughout the centuries, hot cross buns were made and eaten every Good Friday, and it was thought that they had miraculous curative powers. People hung buns from their kitchen ceilings to protect their households from evil for the year to come. Good Friday bread and buns were said never to go moldy. This was probably because the buns were baked so hard that there was no moisture left in the mixture for the mold to live on. Hot cross buns and bread baked on Good Friday were used in powdered form to treat all sorts of illnesses.
- By tradition, it was required (or at least lucky) for churchgoers to wear some bright new piece of clothing - at least an Easter bonnet, if not a complete new outfit.
- Today, candies of all shapes and sizes are bought for Easter. Children wait anxiously to see if the Easter Bunny has left them a basket of goodies. Cakes and breads are baked and carefully decorated. And in many homes, families celebrate Easter with a gathering of family for an elaborate Easter dinner.
- Parades are traditional in some U.S. cities. Atlantic City's 140-year-old parade is the oldest, and the promenade on New York's Fifth Avenue, immortalized in Irving Berlin's song, "Easter Parade," is perhaps the best known. The annual White House Easter Egg Roll takes place in the nation's capitol city on Easter Monday.
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