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History of EasterIn late March (19 - 21), the March Equinox occurs, on the day when the geometric centre of the Sun's disk crosses the equator, moving North, and is above the horizon for 12 hours, everywhere on the Earth. This traditionally signals the beginning of spring in the Northern hemisphere, and of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Jewish religion celebrates Passover soon after the March Equinox. Christian tradition holds that the crucifixion and later resurrection of Christ occurred at the time of Passover, and so most European names for Easter are based on the Latin word for Passover: Pascha. Easter or Pascha is the most solemn time in the Christian calendar. Easter church services are joyous celebrations of the resurrection of Christ. Ironically, because of changes in the calendar, the Western and Eastern Christian churches celebrate Easter on different dates most years, which are different again from the date of the Jewish celebration of Passover. There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers. However, an Easter Homily does survive from the 2nd century, indicating that the practice arose quite early in the history of the Church. According to an 8th century English historian the Venerable Bede, the Easter festival's name in the English and German languages, and much of the symbolism now commonly associated with Easter, derive from Eostre, an alleged Germanic pagan fertility goddess of spring, dawn and new life.. Her primary festival, according to Bede, fell at the March equinox, during her month, Eostremonat. Spring is a time of fertility and renewal of life, when nature is in resurrection after the long dark winter, hence the symbolism of rabbits, notable for their fecundity, and the eggs, colored like rays of the returning sun and the aurora borealis. Children hunt and roll the many-colored Easter eggs brought by the Easter Bunny. Hidden in the play are, it has been argued, the vestiges of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility. There is much evidence that Easter celebrations existed in parts of Christendom which were unlikely to have been influenced by Germanic heathenry. Some historians assume that Bede falsely concluded the existence of a goddess Eostre from the unquestionably real month name Eostremonat, as any references to such a goddess from other Germanic sources are missing. It is possible that, as the Germanic peoples were Christianized, the Christian Paschal celebrations which had developed in non-Germanic areas merged with and assimilated features from the heathen Eostre spring celebrations which took place at about the same time of the year in the Germanic countries, a merger that would have been eased by the resurrection / rebirth themes common to both.
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